The Age of Heroes
by Aki-Chan04
Summary: Sequel to Too Strong A God; Kronos has found a way around the restrictions of the prophecy, and plans to bring about the Olympians' destruction earlier than they expect. Note: Contains male/male content. Complete.
1. Author's Note

Author's Note:

This story is actually a direct sequel to my other multi-chaptered Percy Jackson fic, Too Strong A God. It picks up about a week after TSAG left off.

Therefore, I should say that this fic contains a relationship between two male characters. If this squicks you, please do not read it. Flames will be reported as abuse. I don't mind constructive criticism, but if you have nothing reasonable to say and only want to threaten me, I will report you.

This fic also contains major spoilers up through the end of _The Battle of the Labyrinth_ and for a number of various things in _The Last Olympian_, in case you haven't finished it yet.

Thanks, and on to the fic!


	2. Ch 1: Not A Child

**The Age Of Heroes**

**Chapter 1: Not A Child  
**

You'd think that being the son of the god of death would make things pretty sweet for you. Like maybe you wouldn't have to be afraid of ghosts or dying or what would happen to you when you did, because you had powers over stuff like that and they came just from being born.

Yeah, you'd think that, until you watched your boyfriend die on your own sword for you. Then you'd probably feel pretty bad.

Actually, pretty bad doesn't even begin to describe the half of it. I hated it – I hated my father and I hated what I was, and I hated that everything about my life had thrown me into the middle of a war that I didn't want to be a part of in the first place. I hated that my sister had been torn away from me – first by her decision to join Artemis' Huntresses and then, as if that wasn't bad enough, she went and got herself killed on some stupid quest while I got left behind.

I mean, I've made my peace with her. I even tried to bring her back – not that it worked out in the end. That's the other thing about death powers – they don't always work the way you want them to. But I got to talk to her one last time and I guess I'm pretty okay with things by now. Or at least I'm okay enough to get on with my life, which is all that matters. Someday I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to sit down and really _think_ about all of this and when that time comes, I don't know what'll happen. So I'm just going to keep putting it off and you know, what with a war and the possible end of the world as we know it looming on the horizon, it's really not all that hard.

Except that ever since we got back from the Underworld, it feels like all I've done is sit and think. I mean, I know it's only been a couple of days, and pretty much the first full day we were back at Camp was spent in the Big House explaining everything to Chiron. I guess I didn't really have that much to explain, except for the fact that it was my fault Percy had disobeyed him. I mean, I didn't ask for Percy to disobey him, but you know what? I'm really glad he did.

After that first day, though, it's been pretty quiet around here for almost a week. Preparations are going on as usual, with most of the kids from the Hephaestus and Athena cabins working on weapons and the Ares and Apollo kids practicing their fighting techniques on everybody else. Percy and I help out, sure, but we've kind of stayed on the edge of things. It doesn't help that the Ares kids in particular sure love to make fun of queers. Not that I care – they can say whatever they want, that doesn't make it true. But it also doesn't make me feel particularly social and if you know anything at all about me, it's that I don't feel particularly social even on the best of days. I guess that's what happens when you grow up like I did.

So all in all, it's been pretty normal around here, or at least as normal as it gets under circumstances like these. At least Percy's here too. As soon as we got back he IM'd his mom – she was freaking out, you can imagine – and they both decided he was safer here for now. I guess they're just going to say he's sick or something for the first semester of school. He says she's not happy about it, but he also says he's not leaving right now. I guess it makes sense; I don't know why but I have this feeling, like something is going to happen, and soon. Sooner than we think.

*

It was pretty early in the morning; the sun was rising over the strawberry fields and there was a warm fog that had only just begun to lift. I didn't know how long I'd been awake – since just before dawn, I guess. I hadn't been sleeping all that great since we got back. I'm not sure if it was a side effect of having been dead or if it was something else, but either way half-bloods usually have some pretty interesting dreams, and mine were no exception. So I'd woken up early and wandered to the bathrooms for a shower, and then I spent the rest of the dawn sitting on the stoop of Percy's cabin.

I mean, of course they weren't letting us sleep together – not when Chiron (okay, let's face it, Chiron and everyone in the whole gods-damned camp) pretty much knew exactly what was going on. Percy had explained it a little on the way back, and Chiron had outlined the rest. I guess it made a lot of things make sense, but it also scared me a little. I mean, death powers are one thing – I've pretty much had them all my life. They're a part of me and I understand how they work and how they make me feel. But water powers? I remember that day, not so long ago – even though it _feels_ like a long time ago – that I stood in Percy's shower and realized I wasn't getting wet. We didn't know what it meant at the time, but on the day I died I remember that I diverted almost half the lake here to try and defend myself. It had been pure instinct, and it had scared me.

Don't get me wrong – Percy doesn't scare me, and neither do his powers. But that's just it – they're _his_ powers, and it's weird to have some of them inside me. I guess not all that much weirder than other stuff, but... I don't know. This is more permanent. I never asked if they would go away if we stopped doing this. But then, I'm not planning on stopping anytime soon, even if they won't let us sleep in the same stupid cabin.

About the time that I started hearing sounds from some of the other cabins, I heard the door behind me open and Percy's voice sounded from behind me.

"Nico – hey," he said, coming to sit down beside me on the stoop. He nudged my shoulder with his. "You know you can come inside if you want. The harpies aren't around after the sun rises."

"Yeah, I know." He'd made it pretty clear before that I could come in whenever I wanted, even if he was asleep. I guess there were perks to having the whole cabin to himself. I'd even met the namesake of the Poseidon cabin not long ago, and he had seemed pretty okay with, well, us. It just... it felt weird, the same way that sleeping in the Hermes cabin felt weird – it felt like I didn't belong, because there was nowhere here for someone like me _to_ belong. There was no Hades cabin, and there never had been. Every time I stood outside the door to the Poseidon cabin I was reminded of the fact that I was different. Really different, even here in this place that was supposed to be such a haven for people who were different.

But there was one consolation. I mean, sure, I was different, but so was Percy. He was the only other guy who could ever really understand me. And that really wasn't so bad, in the end. Thalia probably understood too, but she was off with Artemis because she didn't want to be the one in the prophecy, and now she would never turn sixteen. But Percy would, next year. And so would I – just a couple of years later. I guess that's why everyone assumes the prophecy is about him now – I mean, I don't think Kronos is really going to wait another four years when he could only wait one. Although technically, I was born way before Percy – I just never knew it until pretty recently. But I guess it's biological age that counts, anyway, because Percy's the star of the show for now. And that's fine with me, except for the part where everyone thinks he's going to do whatever it is alone. Because I won't let him.

I realized I'd kind of spaced out a little; when I looked back at Percy he was watching me with that look on his face that said he knew me better than I thought he did. "Bad dreams?" he asked, and it wasn't like he didn't know he was right on the mark so I didn't try to deny it.

"Yeah." I sighed. "Usually I can remember them, though. I haven't been able to really remember these." See, when you're a half-blood, most of the time your dreams are kind of prophetic. Either that, or they're like a cheap collect call from the gods or something, when they want to tell you something or scare you. They're not usually just dark jumbles of sounds and images that you don't remember clearly in the morning, but that's exactly what mine have been ever since we got back. And it's pretty unsettling.

Percy just nodded. "Well, that's probably good, right?" He was pretty good at looking on the bright side of things; Bianca always had been too. I missed her.

"Guess so." I leaned against him a little – no one was out here, and it wasn't like I cared even if they were. "Howabout you? Any word from your dad or anything?" Word from his dad would be a lot better than word from mine.

He shook his head, his bangs shifting over his eyes and he pushed them away. "No. I don't remember any of my dreams this week either – guess that's good too, huh?" He slipped an arm around my waist and pulled me a little closer still, his fingers under the hem of my shirt. It was nice.

Yeah, it _was_ – until a bunch of noisy kids burst out of the Ares cabin, probably heading for breakfast and led by none other than the universally annoying and incurably loudmouthed Clarisse.

"Heeey!" she shrieked, beelining for us with her little posse of stupid followers right behind her. "That's a PDA violation! I can't even see your hand, Jackson!"

"Since when do you care where his hand is?" I hissed, feeling Percy shift a little beside me. But he didn't pull his hand away. "Are you jealous? I guess sloppy seconds seems pretty great if that's all you've ever known."

Okay, so I know it really isn't a good idea to make Clarisse any angrier than she is in her natural state. And it wasn't like I didn't know she was pretty sweet on Chris Rodriguez – everybody knew that. But I also know that I'd been taking shit from her ever since we got back, and we weren't hurting anybody just by sitting here together and she knew it. She'd held hands with _her boyfriend_ in front of everyone and she wasn't in charge of freaking PDAs or anything else around here except maybe weapons training, and that was only because she was big and brutal and could usually just stomp on something until she won the fight. I still thought she lacked combat finesse, no matter who her dad was.

She stomped up until her shadow fell over the two of us. I swear, if her eyes could have been flaming like her dad's they would have been. She looked down at me and said, quietly, "Say that again to my face, punk."

I wasn't afraid of her. I probably should have been, but I wasn't. So I stood, feeling Percy's hand fist in my shirt as he pushed himself off the stoop to stand behind me. The effect probably wasn't all that great, since I'm a lot younger and shorter than both of them. But right then, I didn't care. Clarisse could be a giant and I'd still happily stare her down.

"Is Rodriguez tired of you already? I don't blame him, nobody's got the patience to –"

I didn't really get any farther, because Clarisse reeled back and punched me square in the jaw. I'd been expecting it, but she was _fast_, and her fist connected and sent me sprawling back into Percy.

"Clarisse!" he yelled, as his arms looped under mine – for a second I thought it was to keep me upright, and then I realized it was to keep me from fighting back. Clarisse is lucky that Percy's bigger and stronger than I am, because I was ready to give her a beating she'd never forget. She wasn't going to land another punch on me.

"Let him at me, Jackson," she said, crooking her finger and smirking, which really just made her look more ugly and boorish than she already was. "I can take him. Or don't you want to see your little boyfriend try to defend your honor?"

"Clarisse," Percy said again, from between clenched teeth. As I struggled against him, I realized that we were starting to draw a crowd. The jeering and catcalls from the other Ares kids had probably done it. Now there were people sticking their heads out of other cabins. I saw Annabeth at the head of the group from Athena, and she was starting to push her way over to us.

"Look, Clarisse – just stop it, all right? Nobody has to defend anybody's honor. We're all on the same side, here." Percy was trying to reason with her, but I wanted to tell him that it was pretty pointless. He should know that by now. I mean, I hadn't known Clarisse for all that long, but I'd already figured out that she was all brawn and no brains. Most of the Ares kids were.

"I'll stop it if he does," she said, mock-sweetly, like she was all innocent and this was all my fault.

"Like I believe you," I spat, but that just made Percy tighten his grip.

"Like you'd believe anyone – you don't belong here and you know it."

It was only too true. And it made me so mad that I struggled harder and managed to shove Percy enough that his grip loosened just enough, and I jumped on Clarisse with my fists balled and arms already swinging to punch her as hard as I could. We went over in a jumble of arms and legs into the dust, and suddenly everybody was yelling and Percy was trying to drag me off of her and Annabeth appeared to try and keep Clarisse's arms in check.

"Nico!" Percy yelled.

"Clarisse! Stop it!" Annabeth followed suit, and together they managed to drag us apart, but not after we'd both gotten in a couple of pretty good punches and she'd managed to rip my t-shirt.

By the time they'd dragged us apart I think the whole camp had turned out to watch. The sun was fully up now and just then, the conch shell signaling breakfast sounded.

The mass of campers just stood there for a moment, like they wanted to make sure there wasn't anything else to see, and then they began to move towards the dining pavilion, breaking off into groups by cabin and already talking loudly amongst themselves. I was pretty sure Chiron and Mr. D. would know about the fight before they even got the chance to look at Clarisse. I wasn't sure how much they'd care, though. Well, I figured Mr. D. wouldn't care. But Chiron might.

"Don't think I'm going to forget this," Clarisse said, elbowing Annabeth out of the way and trying to fix her hair like it would matter. "You'd better have eyes in the back of your head, di Angelo."

"Bring it on," I said, but it was hard to act menacing when Percy had most of his upper body around me in an attempt to keep me from getting loose again.

Clarisse turned on her heel and followed the campers already on their way to breakfast. The rest of the Ares cabin followed her, sneering at me as they passed. Annabeth stood watching them go with stormy grey eyes, then looked over at Percy and me.

"Are you okay?" she asked, but for a second I wasn't sure which one of us she was talking to.

"Yeah," I said, even though my shirt was ripped and there was blood dripping down my cheek. "I think I hurt her more than she hurt me." It sounded dumb even as I said it.

"Go on ahead," Percy said to her, looking down at me as he finally relaxed his grip until he was just holding my forearm gently in one hand. "We'll be there in a couple minutes."

Annabeth stood there for another minute, but then she nodded and headed down the path behind everyone else. Percy looked down at me again before he opened the door and pulled me inside the cabin, sitting me down on his bed. He went over to the fountain in the corner, grabbing a towel on the way and coming back with it once he'd run it under the spray. He looked at the blood on my face and said, "I hope you have enough of me in you. This is saltwater."

It stung a little, but not as much as it should have; either way I didn't care, it wasn't like I was a baby or anything. I felt stupid anyway as he wiped the blood away from the cuts on my face and then he sat back to look at me for a minute. The silence felt awfully loud.

"Nico..." he finally said, looking at me and I _knew_ that look – it was the kind of look adults always give you when you've done something wrong and they don't even know how to start to explain it to you.

"Look, I'm just sick of her doing that, all right?" I hunched my shoulders and looked at the fountain at the end of the cabin, seeing Percy only on the edge of my vision. "It shouldn't matter so much, but it does."

He sighed. "It bugs me too."

"Yeah, well, I didn't see you helping out." I felt terrible as soon as I'd said it. But... well, it wasn't like I wanted to fight, but if Percy didn't like it any more than I did, why hadn't he given me a hand? I knew I could beat Clarisse by myself, but together we could've beaten her easily. It would've taught her a real lesson.

"Nico..." I finally looked over at Percy. He was biting his lip. He looked up at me and finally he said, "It's just not the best thing to be doing right now. You know – infighting among the ranks, or whatever. I guess we just have to be bigger than that."

Something about the way he said it stung a lot more than the saltwater had on my face. He'd said it in that way that adults talked to me, like he was saying, "_Grow up, Nico. You're such a little kid_."

He hadn't said it, but I had to answer it anyway. "I'm not a little kid," I said, except it came out sounding sullen and childish all the same. I wiped at my swelling lip with the back of my hand and tried not to flinch. I stood and started heading for the door. I was hungry, and for the first time I was actually kind of glad we didn't sit at the same table to eat. "You do know that, right?"

"What? Yeah – yeah, of course I know." Percy seemed confused. He probably hadn't even realized he was talking down to me, but he'd done it all the same. He tossed the towel on the floor and dug around there for a minute before coming up with something black – one of my t-shirts. He tossed it to me and I realized I was still wearing the torn one. "I know you're not a kid," he said, as if to reaffirm it, and once I'd pulled the new shirt over my head we left the cabin and headed for the dining pavilion, but there wasn't really much to say after that.

I felt weird. I felt dumb, and I felt childish and I didn't want to feel that way. I wasn't a little kid. When you're a half-blood, you grow up fast, and Percy knew it as well as I did.


	3. Ch 2: The Letter

**The Age of Heroes**

**Chapter 2: The Letter**

Sure enough, Chiron was standing at the end of the path before it opened up into the dining pavilion. His tail was twitching in an annoyed sort of way, and his face didn't look much more promising. As soon as we walked up, he stepped into our path and said, "Nico, I need a moment of your time."

Before I could say anything, Percy stepped around me and said, "Listen, it wasn't really his fault." I wasn't sure if I should feel glad that he was willing to defend me, or angry that he didn't think I could defend myself. I stared at his back, wishing I didn't feel so conflicted, but the feeling didn't go away. I mean, sure I'd been mad at him before – really mad, in fact – but this was the first time we'd fought since we'd gotten together, or whatever you wanted to call it.

Chiron only frowned. I glanced around him to see if Clarisse was nearby but she was already at the Ares table, talking loudly and gesturing wildly with her hands, one of which was holding a large, greasy slab of bacon. She was probably telling some falsified story about how she totally beat me up or something. Just because she'd hit me a few times didn't mean she'd creamed me. I was pretty sure she was going to have a black eye before this afternoon. That thought seemed to make my swollen lip throb a little less.

"Nico isn't in trouble," Chiron said, "though I ought to remind you both that fighting with your fellow campers is only counterproductive in the end." He sighed and looked over at me again. "I'm here to tell Nico that he has a visitor. He's waiting for you in the Big House."

I was admittedly a little blindsided. A visitor? Who would come to see me – especially here, when everyone I already knew was here already. I suddenly had a vision of my dad or another assassin coming to kill me, but Chiron wouldn't let someone dangerous in to see me, would he?

Chiron stamped one hoof and turned toward the Big House. "It's best not to keep him waiting. He's on a tight schedule."

Percy glanced over his shoulder at me and I knew he was thinking the exact same thing I was – who could this visitor be? I shrugged and tilted my head in the direction of the dining pavilion. "I'll meet you when I'm done," I said, and I turned to follow Chiron before Percy could offer to come with me. Whoever had come to see me, I wanted to face them alone. I wasn't sure why, but I could feel that it would be best that way.

I followed Chiron to the Big House and up the steps onto the porch, where there was a man leaning on the railing and texting on his cellphone, which had two little worm-like things entwined around the antenna. I blinked at it – for a second I thought I had seen one of them wiggle.

When he heard us approaching, the man finished his text and stuffed the cellphone into his pocket of his nylon running shorts. He was also wearing a blue t-shirt that read **Athens Sister City Shuffle** across the front in white letters. He looked up at me and smiled broadly – but there was something calculating behind that smile, like he wasn't quite sure about me yet. Well, that was okay. I wasn't quite sure about him yet, either.

"Hello," he said, and pushed himself off the railing. "You must be Mr. di Angelo. Would you mind talking a walk with me?"

I didn't really want to point out the fact that if he'd wanted to take a walk, he could have walked to the dining pavilion to find me himself. I also didn't want to point out that if he was as busy as Chiron had said, he probably didn't have time to take strolls through camp with a kid like me. But I'd just realized who he was – Percy had told me about the time two years ago that he'd met the god Hermes on the beach, and I was pretty sure this was the same guy. His salt-and-pepper hair and sly, elfish features fit the description of the patron god of thieves and travelers pretty well.

So I said, "… Yeah, okay," and even though I'd just walked up the steps, I turned around and followed him back down off the porch and up the footpath away from the Big House. For a couple of minutes he didn't say anything, just kept glancing back at me like he was still trying to measure me up. It was making me really uncomfortable.

We walked up the hill overlooking the U-shape of cabins below. I saw them all, each distinct in its own way, each dedicated to one of the gods on Olympus – every god, I thought, except my father.

"I'm actually here because I have a delivery for you," Hermes said suddenly. He stopped so abruptly that I almost walked into him. "It came in this morning, and when I saw it I thought I had better deliver it personally."

I frowned, looking up at him and starting to feel uneasy. "What is it? The way he was talking, it was like he knew it was something bad and he didn't want to give it to me. Had he opened my mail? And who was sending me mail in the first place? I knew of exactly zero people who would want to send me a letter.

Hermes reached into the pocket of his shorts and pulled out an envelope. It didn't look like anything bad – just a regular white envelope that with a stamp on it. After a minute I could make out that it was addressed to _Nico di Angelo, Camp Half-Blood, Half-Blood Hill, NY_. There was no return address. It still looked sealed, though I guess if you're a god you can probably open and reseal envelopes without any trouble.

He handed the envelope over to me but his eyes never left my face. "I must admit, I don't know who it's from, but I saw no reason not to give it to you. The mail must be delivered, after all – it's a sacred institution." He paused, smiling slightly. "And no, I haven't read it."

I took the envelope from him, holding it in my hands. It didn't feel special or strange – it felt just how it looked, like a plain old envelope. I looked back up at him, wondering if that was really the only reason he'd come all the way here. "That's it?"

Hermes just kept smiling down at me. "That's it. I just thought I ought to see this delivered into your hands myself. You don't get a lot of mail, do you?"

The truth was, I'd never gotten _any_ mail. Who would've mailed me anything? Bianca and I had always been in the same place, I didn't know who my mother was, and it wasn't like my father was going to send me a postcard from the Underworld. Even the paperwork for the trust that had provided us with money had gone to the lawyer's office. At least, that's what he'd always told us.

"No," I said simply. "Uh... thanks, I guess." Percy had told me that Hermes was pretty nice to you, as long as you were nice to him. And I guessed he hadn't done anything to me – he didn't even seem all that angry about the, you know, gay thing. And I was pretty sure most of the gods weren't too happy about that. Percy had told me the prophecy he'd received in Rising Star, Texas, and it had pretty much said that verbatim.

Hermes' smile turned kinder, and he nodded. "You're welcome. It's yours now, and what you do with it is no one's business but your own."

Just as he finished speaking, the cellphone in his pocket rang. He pulled it out, glancing at the screen before holding it up to his ear. "You can't have your lunch break until you've finished sorting out all those invitations. You know how Aphrodite can be if even one of them gets lost... No, I don't know the number of Artemis' postal box, can't you just look it up yourself?" He glanced down at me and shrugged. "No rest for the weary, I'm afraid – or the postal service. You take care of that letter, young man."

"I will," I said, for lack of anything better to say, as he turned and began jogging down the hill in the direction of the beach. I watched him go, suddenly unsure of my place in the world now that I was standing in the middle of Camp Half-Blood with the very first letter I'd ever received in my life, which had been delivered by the messenger of the gods himself and even he didn't know who it was from.

"Oh, and Nico," Hermes called, pausing a little to jog in place, "don't always believe your eyes. I've found the heart can be a much better compass, in times of need." Then he flashed me a grin and a mock-salute, and he began to glow. I quickly glanced down at the envelope in my hands, and when I looked back up again he'd disappeared. There was no one else on the hill but me, and no indication that I'd just seen a god except for the envelope he'd put in my hands.

The envelope – I looked at it again, trying to figure out who it was from based solely on the penmanship, but I didn't really know what anyone's handwriting looked like except for my own and Bianca's, and it certainly wasn't either of ours. The letters were fancy, which made them hard to read and they seemed to slide around the front of the envelope until my name and address became so jumbled that I had to look away.

You'd think that I'd want to open it right away. And part of me did – part of me was dying to know who could've sent it and what it might say. But part of me was hesitant, almost scared to open it. What if it was something terrible? What if it was some kind of ultimatum from the gods or a threat from my father? Suddenly I didn't want to deal with whatever was in the envelope just yet. I stuffed the envelope into the back pocket of my jeans and walked back down the hill towards the dining pavilion. I was still hungry. The letter could wait until later.

The pavilion was mostly empty when I got there – most of the campers had bolted down their breakfast and had headed off to do whatever was next on the long list of war preparations. There was still a pretty big group at the Hermes table; there always was, it was the most overcrowded cabin in the camp, mostly because it was where every new camper went until they'd been claimed by their Olympian parent. It was also where wayward sons of Hades had to stay, for lack of anyplace better.

Percy was still sitting at the Poseidon table. He was alone, hunched over his cereal and staring at the trees just beyond the edge of the pavilion. He looked over when I passed by, though, and offered me an inquisitive look. I gave him a tight smile and went to get my own breakfast. It wasn't that I wanted to blow him off or anything. I just wasn't sure what to tell him. Suddenly I wasn't sure if I even wanted to tell him that I'd even gotten a letter. Somehow it seemed like something very private.

Right after I thought that, though, I felt pretty terrible. Was it really _that_ private? Percy had done a lot for me – and I do mean a lot. He'd gone into the Underworld for me. He'd _died_ for me. And I knew that I would do the same for him, no matter how confused and weird I felt at this particular moment. How could I not share something like this with him? He was the closest thing I had to family, now that Bianca was dead.

I got my food and tipped some grapes and a couple of pieces of bacon into the fire as an offering to my dad, although I was never really sure what the point of that was, anymore. But I guessed that even lip service had its uses, and even though I hated him I didn't quite dare to eat a meal here without offering him something.

Most of the Hermes kids avoided talking to me, which was just fine with me. I sat at the end of the table and ate my breakfast in silence while they glanced at me and talked to each other in low murmurs, probably about how messed up my face looked or something. I didn't care. I saw Percy finish his breakfast and get up. I hurried to finish mine, grabbing a few pieces of bacon for the road and hurrying after him as he walked out of the pavilion without a second glance.

"Hey –" I called after him, jogging a few steps to catch up. He glanced back at me and slowed down, but the look on his face was pretty clear. He wasn't sure what to say to me, and it was probably because I was acting like a jerk. In my defense, I was pretty sure I had a decent excuse for it, between the fight this morning and the letter stuffed in my jeans pocket, but it kind of paled in comparison to the look on Percy's face.

"Hey, look," I said quietly as I caught up with him and we kept walking. "I'm... I'm sorry, okay. This morning kind of started badly." I wasn't really one for apologizing to people – when you grow up like I did, you felt more like the world owed _you_ an apology than the other way around. But this was Percy, and he wasn't the rest of the world. He was different. He mattered. And I wanted him to know it.

He glanced over at me, and his features didn't look quite so blank anymore. "Yeah..." he murmured softly, "I guess it did. It's okay."

I wasn't sure that was good enough, though. "Really – look, I wanted to fight with Clarisse, not you," I said.

That got me a smile, even if it was a small one. "I know," he said, and his fingers brushed past mine for a second before he threaded our hands together. We kept walking for a few minutes and I realized we were headed towards the beach. Percy liked to go there to think (well, it made sense) and it should be pretty deserted this time of day. Then Percy looked over at me again and asked, "So who came to see you?"

I swallowed. For a split second it felt like I was going to lie, like I still wasn't okay with telling him. But then I opened my mouth and I said, "It was Hermes. He... he had something for me."

Percy's eyes widened just a little. "Hermes? He wanted to give you something? What was it?"

I reached into my pocket and pulled out the envelope. "This."

Percy reached for it and I let him take it. He turned it over in his hands, inspecting the address and the stamp. "Looks pretty normal to me. But no return address."

I nodded. "Pretty normal, sure – except I've never gotten any mail before in my life. Hermes said he wanted to give it to me personally. He didn't know who it was from, either."

Percy had this look on his face now – it wasn't bad, just... thoughtful. It was a lot like the look I remembered him having when I came by his apartment on his birthday. That seemed like such a long time ago, now.

"So, are you going to open it?" he asked.

I stared at the envelope for a minute. I supposed I should open it – I'd have to face what was in it sooner or later, and when I thought about it I really didn't mind if Percy saw what it was. Whatever it was, I knew it wouldn't change his opinion of me. Well, I really hoped not.

This was stupid – it was just a letter, I told myself. I slid my thumb under the flap and tore it open, pulling out what was inside.

It looked like a newspaper clipping. I unfolded it and glanced at the top of the page. It took me a minute to read it – newspaper print is almost as hard to read as fancy lettering when you've got dyslexia – but finally I realized it said, "Washington Post Obituaries".

I felt my stomach drop, though I didn't know why. I tried to tell myself it was because obituaries were probably never a good thing to get in the mail. Who would even send me an obituary, anyway? I might be the son of Hades, but it wasn't like I was required to pay attention to every single person that died. I certainly didn't need to read about it – I could _feel_ it when people died, even if I could shut the feeling out. I usually did, because if you think about it someone in the world dies pretty much every second, and having your stomach drop out from under you every minute of every day just isn't something you want to live with.

I scanned the mess of letters on the page, feeling both worried and confused. I had no idea what I was looking for – I mean, my sister was already dead, and my father was a god...

My eyes stopped on a familiar jumble of letters that finally resolved into a name, and I felt my mouth go dry.

_Anna di Angelo, 95, died in her Rockville home Tuesday evening of natural causes. She is survived by her husband, Roger Baldwin. An informal, non-denominational service will be held at their home Sunday at 3pm._

For a minute I didn't know what it really meant. This woman with the same last name as me had died, and she was ninety-five years old. That meant... that meant she'd been born in 1913. My head felt like it was spinning. I could hear the water lapping at the beach, but it sounded like roaring to my ears. I held the clipping so tightly that the paper was getting crumpled. But I didn't care.

_Anna di Angelo_, I thought, over and over. _Anna di Angelo_. And then I realized it. I suddenly knew who she was, like a light had gone off in my head and everything was so clear now. I felt like the ground had dropped out from underneath me, like I was in freefall and I couldn't stop. I read the tiny excerpt over and over, but it was the same every time.

_She was my mother_. She had to be. But that meant –

"Nico?" I heard Percy come up behind me, glancing over my shoulder at the newspaper clipping. "What is it?" He paused, like he was trying to read what it said. "An obituary?"

I swallowed, still staring at the tiny black words on the page. "Percy... I – I think it's my mother. I think she's dead."


	4. Ch 3: Help From Friends

**The Age Of Heroes**

**Chapter 3: Help From Friends  
**

Percy reached for the newspaper clipping and took it from my hand. There was silence as he read it over slowly, and then he put one hand on my shoulder. "Nico..." He sounded hesitant, like he didn't know what to say. I didn't really blame him. I didn't know what to say, either. Finally, he said, "You're going to go, aren't you?"

It was Thursday. That meant the service for my mother was only three days away. I nodded. "Yeah." I was going to go – how could I not? I mean, sure I couldn't remember my mom at all, and it wasn't like anyone there would know who I was. But part of me felt like I had to go – I owed it to myself as much as I owed it to her. I'd spent a lot of my life being mad at her over leaving us or giving us up or whatever had happened, but I wasn't mad anymore. I just wanted to know the truth. Something in me said it was the right thing to do.

"Are you going to tell Chiron?" Percy asked, but I was sure he already knew the answer to that, too.

"No." I wasn't sure he'd let me go if I told him – in fact, I was pretty sure he wouldn't, given how dangerous it was for half-bloods outside the camp and how critical these next few months were. But I didn't care what he thought, or whether it might be dangerous or stupid. I'd made up my mind – I was going, and Chiron wasn't going to stop me. Besides, all he knew was that Hermes had given me something. He didn't know what it was, and he didn't need to know, either.

"Okay," Percy said, and something about his voice made me turn around and look at him. He was clutching the obituary in one hand and he had a determined look on his face. "Well, we could take a cab into the city and catch a train, but it's probably easier to just ask Blackjack – "

"Wait – _we_?"

He looked down at me. "Yeah, I'm coming with you." He paused, biting his lip. "That's... that's okay, right?" He squeezed my shoulder. "Unless you want to go alone."

I still felt weirdly blank on the inside, but the fact that Percy wanted to come made me feel a little warmer all the same. I smiled up at him, and nodded. "Yeah. It's okay."

He handed the newspaper back to me. "Okay, first thing's first. I'll talk to Blackjack. I'm sure I can get him and a buddy to give us a ride down there. I think it's a pretty long train ride and besides, it's probably safer to take the pegasi."

"Yeah." He was right – too many things could happen to us on a train ride that we weren't supposed to be taking. We could both take care of ourselves just fine, but why risk it? We were going to be in enough trouble as it was when we got back. It was better to play it safe. And it was also convenient that my boyfriend could talk to horses – because that included pegasi, and they were a pretty good form of private transportation for half-bloods. Even if they had never seemed to like me much.

I frowned down at the paper in my hand again. "It doesn't say the address, though. I guess we'll have to look it up."

Percy nodded. "We could ask Annabeth – " He paused when he saw the look on my face – the one that said I didn't think that was a really good idea. The more people that knew about this, the better our chances of getting caught before we could leave. I mean, Annabeth was okay and all, but I didn't know if I really trusted her with something like this. She could be kind of a goody two-shoes sometimes, and usually at the wrong times. But it was clear that Percy trusted her. "Look," he said, "we don't have to tell her what it's for, okay? And even if we did, she wouldn't tell."

I wasn't so sure, but I figured I was going to have to trust him on this one. "I guess so."

"Okay." Percy glanced at his watch. "They're going to miss us if we don't get to javelin practice," he said, but he sounded like he didn't really want to go. He looked back up at me. "We'll talk about this later, okay?"

"Okay." I stuffed the paper back into my pocket and we walked back to camp together.

The rest of the day passed pretty normally – well, as normally as a day can when you started it out by getting into a fight with one of the meanest bullies in camp. The Ares kids seemed to be around every corner, ready to stick out a foot to trip me or shove me in the dirt or anything else they could think of to humiliate me. I knew I couldn't fight back, though, because that would just make things worse. And I didn't want to get in trouble with Chiron – just because he hadn't punished me for the fight this morning didn't mean he wouldn't punish me if I suddenly decided to take on the whole cabin of demented losers. I didn't want to risk it. In the end it wasn't as hard to ignore them as I'd thought, but that was probably because my mind was on the piece of newsprint in my pocket.

After dinner Percy and I skipped the campfire sing-along (yeah, they were still having those, something about keeping morale up even though I didn't see how that really helped) and went back to his cabin to talk.

"Who do you think sent it?" he asked as soon as he'd shut the door.

I pulled the envelope out of my pocket and set it on his bed before I sat down beside it. "I don't know." I'd been thinking about it all day, but I was still at a loss. "I mean, I don't think it was my dad..." We didn't exactly get along. Besides, if he'd wanted me to know who my mother was, he'd had plenty of chances to tell me. Honestly, I was pretty sure he hadn't cared about her at all – and that just made me hate him all that much more.

"Persephone?" Percy suggested. "I mean, she doesn't seem to dislike you so much."

I shrugged. I'd never met her myself, but Percy had. She'd helped him – she'd given him an out so that when he'd died, he couldn't be kept in the Underworld. I guess I really owed her for that. I supposed it was possible that she could have sent me the clipping. But would she do that if she didn't have anything to gain from it? I didn't even know if she'd had anything to gain by helping Percy to get me out of the Underworld, and part of me was still waiting for the other shoe to drop on that. Most gods didn't do anything unless they could get something in return.

And what if this was some kind of trap? "What if it wasn't someone on our side?" I asked, frowning. "I mean... what if it's one of our enemies? What if she's not even my mother?" I had to at least entertain the possibility that this was all a set-up, that the woman in the obituary just happened to have the same last name and that someone was trying to manipulate me. But could I really take that chance? What if she _was_ my mom?

Percy seemed to be thinking pretty much the same thing. "But you still want to go and check it out."

"Yeah." I swallowed. "Just in case." Something in me just couldn't walk away from this, even if it could be a trap.

"So then I guess it doesn't matter either way," Percy said quietly, pushing the envelope aside so he could sit beside me. "We're going, and we'll just have to be prepared for anything."

"Yeah..."

Just then, a knock sounded at the cabin door, followed by Annabeth's voice. "Percy? Is it okay to come in?"

Percy gave me a rueful grin – Annabeth had been pretty careful about checking whether we were decent after she'd practically interrupted us while we were... you know, _busy_ more than once without realizing it.

Percy angled his head toward the door and called back, "Yeah! It's fine, come in."

The door opened and then shut behind Annabeth, who was wearing a denim jacket over her orange Camp Half-Blood shirt. Her New York Yankees cap was threaded through one of the beltloops on her jeans and she had the laptop that had once belonged to Daedelus tucked under one arm. She glanced at the two of us sitting side-by-side, but seemed to figure out pretty quickly that we'd just been talking.

"I didn't see you at the campfire," she said, coming over and sitting on the empty bed across from Percy's. Despite the fact that Percy didn't share the cabin with anyone else (except for his half-brother Tyson, but that was only sometimes), there was still a row of neatly-made beds along the wall. It seemed kind of dumb when I thought about it, especially with how cramped it could get in the Hermes cabin. But I guessed there wasn't anywhere in cabin eleven to put more beds, and the pact between the Big Three gods to not sire any more children (which obviously hadn't gone as planned, anyway) hadn't been until after World War II. That was still pretty recent, to some ways of thinking.

Of course, that made me think about Anna di Angelo and when she would have been born, and that led to wondering when _I_ might have been born, and suddenly I was really glad when Annabeth started talking again and kept me from thinking about it any more.

"How's your face, Nico?" she asked, peering at me to see for herself. "I didn't get to tell you before, but Clarisse shouldn't have said that stuff."

I shrugged, acting noncommittal, but it was kind of nice to know that Annabeth didn't think I'd been out of line. "I'm okay."

She nodded, her eyes slipping past my face to the bedspread. "What's that?" she asked, and reached for the envelope still sitting on the bed. I made a panicked dive for it and managed to snatch it up a second before her fingers touched it.

"Nothing!" I said tightly, and stuffed it into my pocket with a crinkling sound. "Just some mail. _My_ mail," I added. I didn't really want to be rude, but I wanted to her to get the hint. It wasn't any of her business.

"... Oh," she said, blinking as she looked at the spot on the bed where the envelope had been like it had vanished into thin air. "Okay. I wasn't trying to steal it."

Percy shot me a look, and I sighed. "I know – sorry. I've been kinda jumpy today. You understand."

Annabeth's lips thinned into an unhappy line, and she nodded. "You shouldn't let those Ares kids get to you like that. Clarisse was out of line, but you know she's like that."

And here was the lecture again, I thought – the whole, _Now, Nico, you're supposed to be mature about these things, and that means you can't go hitting people when you're angry at what they've said to you._ It was the same thing Percy had given me, even if he did seem to pretty much have put the whole morning behind us. But I really, really didn't need it from Annabeth, too.

Percy seemed to catch on that I was about to give her a piece of my mind because he said, quickly, "Hey, Annabeth – since you're here, can you check something for us? We need to look up an address."

One golden eyebrow rose. "An address? For what?"

Percy glanced at me first before he turned back to Annabeth. "Nothing, really. But you've got the computer and all." He gestured to the laptop. I wasn't sure how she got internet on that thing, considering the fact that I was pretty sure Camp Half-Blood didn't have a wireless network or anything, but maybe it was special. Maybe Daedelus had installed satellite connectivity or something.

Annabeth looked anything but agreeable – in fact, she looked convinced that we were up to something. "Well, yeah..." She opened the laptop and hit the power button. The screen came to life, casting a glow over her features that made her look pale, almost undead. I resolutely pushed that image out of my mind and glanced at Percy, figuring he should do the talking as Annabeth asked, "So... what did you want to look up?"

"An address," Percy repeated, "in Rockville, Maryland. For Roger Baldwin."

Roger Baldwin, I thought. What a boring, plain old name. If he'd married my mother, did that make him my stepfather? I didn't like the sound of that, but then again, when the god of death is your real father, how bad could any stepfather be?

"Roger Baldwin?" Annabeth repeated the name like she was trying to figure out why we cared about this guy. She glanced at the two of us and then started typing, the screen flickering as she pulled up a search engine. After a minute, she leaned back. "Huh. Yeah, I found him." She paused and looked at us expectantly. "So why do you want to know where he lives?"

"Look, Annabeth, can you just give me the address?" I asked. I didn't want to make a big deal out of it. Maybe we shouldn't have asked her after all, but it was too late for that now.

She frowned, putting her hands on the top of the screen and leaning forward a little. "Not until I know what you're going to do with it."

I rolled my eyes. "I'm not asking for top secret information – you just looked him up in the phone book, right? So it's not like you just hacked into the CIA or anything. It's public knowledge."

Percy bit his lip and looked from me to her. "He's got a point." I caught myself just before my lips curled into a smug little smile. Percy was on my side. I mean, I guess there weren't really _sides_ here, but I was glad he was backing me up nonetheless.

Annabeth didn't look happy about that. She glared at Percy for a minute before she huffed out a sigh and said, "Fine. Roger Baldwin, 6016 Roseland Drive, Maryland, 20852."

"Thank you," I said, and even if I didn't really sound all that grateful, I guessed I was.

Annabeth shut the lid of the computer and leaned forward with her arms crossed, scrutinizing the two of us now. "I only told you because it _was_ publicly available. So what are you going to do with the address? You want to write him back?" Now she was looking at my pocket, where I'd stuffed the letter.

"No," I said honestly. I was pretty sure it hadn't been Roger Baldwin who'd sent me the obituary. It was a fair bet that he didn't even know I existed. And I wasn't going to write him and find out – I wanted to see him. And my mother, or at least her body. I felt weird when I thought about it, like shouldn't I have _known_ when she died? Sure, I usually block out the way death feels, but if my mother had died, shouldn't I have noticed it?

Then again, I didn't know when Bianca had died, either. I'd had nightmares, but I hadn't really understood what they meant until that night when Percy had pulled me aside and given me that figurine of Hades and told me that my sister was dead.

Now Annabeth looked even more worried. So much for honesty being the best policy. "You're going to go there," she said suddenly, like she'd solved the puzzle and even if we told her we weren't, she wasn't going to believe it. "You're going to sneak out of camp, and I just helped you! Great!"

"Annabeth!" Percy said, catching her arm as she pushed herself off the bed like she was going to get up and tell on us. I narrowed my eyes – if she was going to tell Chiron then she was going down for aiding and abetting, or _something_. "Look," Percy went on, "we really appreciate your help. But this is private business," he glanced over at me, "okay?"

Annabeth still wasn't buying it. "Private how?" She put her hands on her hips with the laptop tucked back under one of them. "Do you really expect me to just help you sneak out of camp when –"

"You did last time," Percy said quietly, and something about the way his voice sounded hit me in the stomach like a sledgehammer. He'd told me that Annabeth had helped him when he left camp to get me back, but I had to admit I hadn't really given it much thought. Annabeth had supported him then, though, and all the while she knew he was going down into the Underworld and that he was likely to fail his quest.

Suddenly I felt a lot worse about this whole thing.

Now Annabeth looked torn. "I did," she said finally, "but – "

"It's my mom," I said, interrupting her and wondering if this was the right choice even as the words left my mouth. Both she and Percy turned to look at me; Percy gave me a look like he was trying to make sure I wanted to say this, but I wasn't sure I had an answer for him. I went on anyway. "I... I think she's dead – I mean, I think she just died." I pulled the paper out of my pocket. "This is the obituary. There's a – a service. I just wanted to go. That's all."

Somehow I felt better, not worse, now that I'd told Annabeth. Even if the look on her face said that _she_ probably did feel worse, knowing the truth.

"Oh," was all she said for a minute. "Nico, I... I didn't know. I'm sorry."

I shrugged. "Well, I didn't tell you. But now you do know. Okay?" I paused, but added, "And it's private." I didn't want anyone else to know about it. And I wanted her to understand that.

Annabeth swallowed, and nodded. But then some of the conviction came back into her eyes. "But you guys can't just up and leave – you've got to talk to Chiron, get permission and –"

"Annabeth," I said, "do you really think that Chiron is just going to let me leave for a couple of days after what happened last week?" It really had just been last week, I realized all over again. Every time I thought about it, it seemed like the whole thing had been a million years ago.

Annabeth's mouth worked for a minute. Then she finally said, "Oh. Yeah, well... You do realize it _is_ dangerous," she turned to look at Percy, "for both of you. I mean, I'm assuming you want to go, too?"

Percy nodded.

Annabeth sighed. "And now I'm going to have to cover for you."

I glanced at Percy, feeling very much like we'd just won a game of capture the flag (nevermind that I didn't even know what that actually felt like). "Yeah," I said quietly, starting to grin just a little. It sounded like she was going to do just that, even if she didn't want to. "That would be nice."

Annabeth stood there, looking from me to Percy and back again. "Fine!" she burst out after a moment. "But only because I know how hard this must be for you," she said to me. "And I don't like it. How long are you going to be gone?"

"Just part of Saturday – it should only be a couple of hours. No one'll even miss us," I said.

"Uh-huh." Annabeth still didn't look thrilled, but she looked better than if I'd told her we'd be gone overnight or anything. This really was going to be a quick trip – at least, I hoped so. "I guess... if it's just a couple of hours..."

"We'll have pegasi with us," Percy said helpfully. "Just say we went out for some flying practice if anyone does ask."

Annabeth sighed again. "And what about if something goes wrong? What am I supposed to do then? Have you even thought about that?"

"Well," Percy said, shrugging as casually as he could and nodding toward the computer in her hand, "if something happens, you know where to start."

*

On Saturday morning I met Percy just before dawn behind the Poseidon cabin. I had a backpack with my Stygian iron sword inside it, wrapped in a couple of towels. Sometimes I really envied the way his sword, Anaklusmos, could shrink down to look like a normal pocket-sized pen. My sword didn't exactly come with that feature, but it was a good weapon nonetheless – especially against undead. And it was better if we were both armed. I wasn't exactly expecting Kronos to jump out of 6016 Roseland Drive, but it was always better to be prepared.

I followed him to the stables and we slipped into the hay-scented darkness. There were a couple of stamps and snorts but it sounded like most of the pegasi were still asleep. I didn't blame them. It felt like I had just managed to fall asleep when my watch alarm had gone off and I'd had to tiptoe my way out of the Hermes cabin without waking anyone. It actually hadn't been all that hard. For a bunch of thieves, they all slept like the dead – and I'd know.

Percy went up to a large black pegasus and rubbed him on the nose. "Hey, Blackjack," he said softly. The pegasus perked up and looked at him, then tilted his head like he was talking to Percy mind-to-mind. He probably was.

Percy smiled in the dim light from the breaking dawn as it slanted in through the windows. "Right. Extra oats and sugar cubes for a week, just like I promised." The stallion whickered and stamped, and Percy unlatched the door to his stall and he pranced out. "He says you're small enough that he can carry us both," Percy said. "It's better if only one pegasus is missing for the day." He glanced over at Blackjack again. "And he does _not_ smell funny, so get over it." He grinned a little. "I like the way he smells."

I blinked. Any cracks about my stature and smell aside, all morning sitting back-to-front on a flying horse with Percy? I guessed that really wasn't so bad. Especially after the last time I'd tried to ride a pegasus. I guess they didn't really care for the smell of death – then again, not a lot of creatures did. "Uh... yeah, okay," I agreed.

Percy climbed up onto Blackjack's back and held out his hand to help me up in front of him. I wasn't really great at mounting horses, especially when they have wings, but I managed to get myself up and seated without looking too incredibly stupid. I had to give Percy my backpack though, but that was okay because when he leaned forward I could feel the heat from his chest against my back. It was comforting – really comforting, in fact, considering that I hadn't really gotten to sit this close to him for very long since we'd escaped from the Underworld. Things had either been too hectic around camp, or we'd been very intentionally interrupted whenever anyone felt we'd been alone together too long. Honestly, I knew this thing with us was supposed to be a big deal because of the way we'd begun to assimilate each other's powers, but what was done was done and couldn't people respect that and just give us a little privacy every once in a while? Couldn't they just treat us like _adults_?

I didn't have much more time to think about that because Percy shifted and said, "Okay, big guy." He patted Blackjack on the neck. "We're going south, like I said. Toward Washington, D.C." Rockville was so close to D.C. that it was practically the same city – it was only a couple of miles northwest of the capital.

Blackjack nosed the door of the stable open and got a few paces beyond it before I felt his muscles bunch beneath my legs. Percy threaded his arms under mine and tangles his fingers in Blackjack's mane just beside mine. Then our mount tensed and leapt into the morning air, winging his way in a circle before turning his nose to the south.


	5. Ch 4: The Service

**The Age Of Heroes**

**Chapter 4: The Service  
**

We got to Rockville with about two hours to spare. Blackjack touched down in Tilden Woods Park, which Annabeth had circled on a Google Maps printout. It wasn't far from the house. We slid off Blackjack's back and I took my backpack from Percy while he conferred with the pegasus. After a minute he nodded and Blackjack trotted off between the trees.

Percy turned to me. "He'll keep hidden while we're busy. I can call him when we're ready to go."

I nodded. "Okay." I glanced around the park – it was pretty heavily wooded and there weren't a lot of people around. I glanced at my watch and wondered what we should do until 3. I was actually getting pretty hungry. We hadn't really stopped for food along the way, and it was past lunchtime.

As if to bring that fact to our attention, my stomach chose that moment to growl loudly. Percy glanced at me and grinned. "Want to get some lunch?"

I grinned back, sheepishly. "Yeah, I think so." I wasn't sure what there was to eat around here, but there were a couple of major roads nearby and there were bound to be places to eat along them. I pulled out the map and pointed to the east, the same direction as Roseland Drive. "That way?" Percy nodded.

We started walking. I kept an eye on the roads; we passed Roseland Drive and kept going. It wasn't much longer until we hit Rockland Pike. And there, just a block north, I saw the bright yellow arches of McDonald's. My stomach growled again, and I nudged Percy, pointing. "How's McDonald's sound?"

He grinned over at me. "Sounds great." Sure, the food was pretty good at Camp Half-Blood, even I would admit that. But nothing beat good old-fashioned fast food. We sat in a booth by the window to eat and watched the cars drive by on the street outside. It felt so weird – so _normal_ – to be sitting in the plastic booth eating Big Macs and fries. I had to admit, the last time I'd been to McDonald's, I hadn't been getting food for myself. It had been for the dead – to tempt them back to the living world long enough to talk to me. I didn't want to think about that, though, so I ate a couple more fries and looked across the table at Percy.

I realized then that he was watching me. "What?" I asked.

He shook his head. "Nothing. Just... are you gonna be okay? Going to this thing, I mean."

My first instinct was to say of course I was – you really couldn't be related to the god of the dead and get squeamish going to funerals. But I knew that wasn't the question he was asking. He knew I'd be okay at _a_ funeral, the question was, would I be okay going to _this_ funeral?

"I dunno," I said, looking down at my meal. "But I just know I have to do this." I glanced back up at him. "I didn't come this far just to chicken out. It's just a funeral."

Percy nodded, his mouth tight. "Yeah, but it's your _mom's_ funeral."

"_Might_ be my mom's funeral," I corrected. "We still can't rule out the possibility that she's got nothing to do with me."

"I guess," Percy said, but we both knew neither of us thought that. I was pretty convinced she had been my mom, and Percy was too. It just didn't make sense, otherwise. Someone wanted to get to me, that much was clear. I just didn't know _why_. But I had a feeling I was going to find out.

We sat in the restaurant until almost 3, and then we washed up in the bathroom and headed out again. I glanced at Percy and realized that neither he nor I were really dressed for a funeral of any kind. I mean, I usually wear all black so at least I wouldn't stick out, but even if they were the right color I was still just wearing a t-shirt and jeans. And Percy wasn't even wearing black, just regular jeans and a red t-shirt. At least he hadn't worn a Camp Half-Blood t-shirt, because you didn't really want to advertise that you were a half-blood when you went out into the regular mortal world. It just singled you out to get killed a whole lot faster, and I was pretty sure both of us had had enough of that for a long, long time.

Well, it was too late to worry about the dress code now. We headed back west and turned onto Roseland drive. I looked at all the houses lining the street and tried to picture my mother living in any one of them. It was weird. Everything was just so _normal_, like the McDonald's had been. I hadn't really had a lot of normal in my life. Even the things that I'd thought were normal had all pretty much turned out to be anything but. Especially the part where the better half of a century had gone by without stopping to let Bianca and me back on board. I wondered if our mom had tried to look for us. What if she had?

"Hey," Percy said, and I realized I'd stopped walking. He retraced his steps back to me and took my hand, squeezing it. "We're in this together."

I couldn't help but smile; it was true. "Yeah." I glanced around – there was no one in sight – and I used my grip on his hand to lever myself up enough to kiss him, briefly. It felt good, _right_, and I couldn't remember the last time I'd gotten the chance to do it. It had been a couple of days, at least. A couple of days too long, that was for sure. I wondered if he might be okay with taking a detour on the way back to anywhere we could get some privacy for an hour or something. I had a bad feeling I'd need it.

He was grinning as I pulled back and he disentangled our hands to reach up and ruffle my hair. "Then let's do this."

We walked down the block, counting the numbers on the houses until we came to 6106. It was a big white two-story house with a front porch and a two-car garage. There was a FOR SALE sign planted in the yard near the street. The driveway was full of cars, and the front door was open. Through it I could see a couple of adults wearing black and holding glasses or plates.

We glanced at each other before going up the walk and slipping in the front door. I looked around, feeling a little blindsided despite myself. Even if I am the son of Hades, I haven't exactly been to a lot of funerals. In fact, this would be my first. I guessed it wasn't really a funeral in the proper sense of the word, since the paper had just said it was a "service" and I was pretty sure actual funerals usually took place in churches or graveyards. This pretty much seemed like a housewarming party or something, only everyone was wearing black and they were all there to talk about Anna di Angelo and how the world was going to be now that she wasn't in it anymore.

I didn't even know what that would be like – she hadn't been in _my_ world for pretty much the whole of my memorable life, and so I don't know why I should feel different now that she was gone. I just knew that I did.

Most of the house was done in wood and white – I had to admit, it was a pretty nice place. The furnishings were sparse, but there were a lot of paintings all over the place and there seemed to be potted plants in every corner. Most of the adults there were older men and women, and they didn't really notice us, just glanced at us and kept on talking.

But there was one guy – he was probably the oldest guy there – that took notice of us. He'd been sitting across the room talking to an older couple, but the instant we came in he set down the plate he'd been holding and started making his way through the guests to us with the help of a cane. He hobbled into our path and looked at us, his expression scrutinizing. He was wearing black pants and a black sweater that made him look incredibly pale with his white hair and faded skin.

I realized that he must be Roger Baldwin – my mom's husband. That made him my stepfather. Suddenly my backpack felt cold and heavy against my back. I fought the urge to reach for Percy's hand.

"May I ask what you're doing here?"

I swallowed. "We're from Rockville High School," I said, reciting the cover story Percy and I had rehearsed. "We're working on a class project. You must be Mr. Baldwin. We – we wanted to talk you about your wife."

One white eyebrow rose. "The high school?" He didn't really seem all that hyped about it. He looked like the kind of guy who called kids 'hooligans' and told them to get off his lawn. "You're doing a project?"

"It's for Sociology," Percy put in. "We're exploring how people deal with loss." He paused, shifting uncomfortably and glancing at me for a second. "We're very sorry about your wife, Mr. Baldwin."

And we were, if she was who I thought she was. He had no idea, I thought, looking at his face. No idea at all. And why should he? Even if she'd _told_ him she'd had kids, he wouldn't expect me to only be twelve.

Roger Baldwin was still looking at us like he wasn't sure what to make of our story. I wanted to turn and run right then, but it wouldn't have gotten me any closer to figuring out this mystery. Besides, I wasn't some kid who ran from things he didn't like. I faced them head-on. So instead, I asked, "Were you married long?"

"Almost seventy years," he said, his voice turning a bit wistful even if his eyes still looked suspicious. "I remember Anna on our wedding day, she was twenty-five and gorgeous. So full of life... she was always full of life, up until the end."

"Did you ever have any children?" I felt Percy shift a little closer to me, but I couldn't help but ask it. I was proud of the way my voice had been steady.

Roger shook his head, still looking at us suspiciously. "No, Anna never wanted children. I admit, I didn't much care for them, myself. What does that have to do with this project of yours?"

But I was still hanging on his words. _Never wanted children_. That hit me like a punch to the gut. Was it because she'd already _had_ children? Or what if she hadn't wanted children even when Biana and I had been born? What had my dad done to her?

Percy glanced at me, the corners of his mouth tugging down. "It... um, well, sometimes people feel loss differently if they have children to share it with," he said. It was a pretty nice save, I thought, even if my mind was still reeling like Roger had actually hit me physically. Percy had shifted so close to me that our shoulders were practically touching.

"Hm." Roger was looking at us like he didn't want to answer any more questions, but I knew we couldn't just leave. I needed to know more, and this might be my only chance.

"We're – we're just trying to help," I said, my voice sounding strained even to me. "We understand that losing someone is hard." It was what everyone said, and it sounded awfully lame.

Roger raised an eyebrow again. "Like hell you do," he said, in that way that old people just say whatever comes to mind. "You're just kids. You don't know what it's like at all."

I guess he expected that to scare us off or something, but it didn't. He was wrong. We _both_ knew what it was like to lose someone. We'd just been lucky enough to get him back, in the end. But I knew it couldn't be like that for everyone. I suddenly felt really bad – how must Roger feel, I wondered? All he knew was that his wife was gone, and I knew he didn't really have much time left, either. I can just feel that about people – sure, he looked pretty good for his age, but looks can be deceiving. I've learned to trust the feeling I have in my gut about stuff like that. I wondered if Percy could sense it too.

It was Percy who broke the silence. He said quietly, "You must have loved her very much."

Roger took a breath, but he was starting to look less angry. Now I thought he just looked tired. "Yes. I did." He sighed. "Maybe someday you'll understand. You're still too young to really get it."

I wasn't sure about that, but I also wasn't about to start arguing with him. Not when he could tell me more about my mother – or, at least, the woman I thought had been my mother.

I swallowed. "How did she die?"

"In bed," he said after a moment, looking at the two of us like he'd finally given in to some sort of internal argument. "She was at home, here, and she was ready to go. It was just her time."

I nodded, biting my lip. It had been a good death, then – the kind most people want, dying of old age in their bed with their loved ones near. I suddenly wondered if maybe my father had anything to do with it. It was the least he could do, I thought. He didn't control who lived or died, of course – the Fates answered to no man or god – but maybe he had some influence. Maybe he really had loved her, maybe he'd wanted her to have a painless death. Despite my feelings about my father, I found myself hoping so.

But she'd only had Roger. Bianca and I hadn't had the chance to be there. Maybe she wouldn't have even wanted us there.

"Where's her body?" I asked, and Roger's face changed a little. He looked at me like I was just some little kid who was fascinated by dead bodies or something. If only he knew the truth.

But finally he just sighed and turned, beckoning us with the hand that wasn't on the cane. He took us through the kitchen, where there were trays of hors devours and glasses of wine, and into the sitting room, which had a big leather couch and a fireplace. There was a large stone mantle, and the only object on it was a small bronze urn.

"She wanted to be cremated," he said, indicating the urn on the mantle. I looked at it, the container that held everything that was left of my mother, and wondered how you could possibly fit the whole of a human life into something so small.

"What are you going to do with her?" I heard myself ask. My voice sounded far away.

Roger looked down at me. "I don't know yet. She always liked orchards. There's one in Germantown we used to go to, years ago. I was thinking of taking her there, maybe spreading the ashes..." He stopped, frowning. "Do you really need to know this kind of stuff? What kind of project is this?"

"It's for sociology," Percy repeated.

"There you are. Are these boys bothering you, Rich?"

I looked over and saw a woman standing in the doorway. She was wearing black, like everyone else, and she had long dark hair and pale skin. I guess she was pretty beautiful, if you liked that sort of thing. Her lips were dark red, and her eyes were outlined with mascara so that they were even more striking behind her designer black plastic-rimmed glasses. She wasn't old at all, and I wondered how she knew Richard Baldwin and Anna di Angelo.

"No, it's fine, Maddie. They were just leaving," he said, with an air of finality that told me we wouldn't get anything else out of him even if we begged.

"Ah, well, I'll just show them out, then," she said, coming over and placing a hand on each of our shoulders. Her nails were perfectly manicured, bright red and shiny in the sunlight. She pretty much steered us back through the kitchen and I figured we'd keep going all the way to the front door, but suddenly she stopped and looked down at us. "You two boys should at least have something to drink before you go." She glanced at the counters, where rows of glasses and trays of food still sat. "How about a Coke? I know Roger has some..." She went to the fridge and pulled out two cans, handing one to each of us.

I looked from the can in my hand up to her face. "How do you know Mr. Baldwin?" I asked. She didn't exactly look like an old friend or anything. Aside from us, she could've easily been the youngest person here.

"I'm his doctor," she said, smiling her red-lipped smile as we opened our Cokes and followed her to the door. It was still pretty warm outside, and the house was open so the A/C wasn't on. (Either that or old people don't like using the A/C.) The can felt cool in my hand.

"Aren't you a little young to be a doctor?" I asked, wondering what _kind_ of doctor she was. She didn't look like any doctor I'd ever seen, though I had to admit I hadn't seen that many.

She just stopped beside the door and gestured with one graceful hand. Then she leaned down and looked at me. "Aren't you a little young to be in high school?"

I felt my stomach drop – not a very comfortable feeling while I was filling it with soda. "I skipped a couple of grades," I mumbled, then reached over and grabbed Percy's hand. I didn't care what anyone thought anymore. I was ready to leave. "C'mon Percy, let's go."

He cast a last glance at the woman beside the open door before following me as I hurried down the porch steps. A couple of drops of Coke splashed out of my can and hit the pavement with a sizzling hiss, the way soda sounds when you shake the can before you open it. I walked quickly down the driveway with Percy in tow, and I didn't really slow down until we were at the end of the block.

"Hey," Percy finally said, once my steps had slowed to something that more reasonably resembled walking. He stopped, tugging on my hand with his so I had to stop, too. "Are you okay?"

I turned and looked at him. He was looking at me with this worried look on his face, Coke can hanging loosely from the fingers of his right hand.

I bit my lip. Part of me wanted to tell him that of course I was okay – but part of me wanted to say that of course I _wasn't_, because I still didn't know for sure if Anna di Angelo had been my mom but if she was, she certainly hadn't seemed to care about me or my sister at all.

I just stood there, blinking at him while I tried to figure out what I wanted to say and how to say it so that the huge lump that was suddenly building in my throat didn't choke me until tears came out. I could feel them, hot and heavy right behind my eyes, and I didn't even know _why_.

And then I felt something else. Something that felt like an acid snake uncoiling from my stomach and shooting through my veins, taking over my body. I coughed, feeling my right hand drop Percy's fingers just as the Coke can that had been in my left hit the pavement with a metallic clang, the fizzy brown liquid rushing out into a puddle on the street.

"Nico – !" Percy started, but then his eyes went wide and he coughed too, and an identical metallic clang sounded as he dropped his drink too. He bent over, hands on his knees. I felt dizzy all of a sudden, and the world began to spin wildly. I blinked and the world suddenly went sideways. I was lying on the ground. I heard a thud that sounded like something Percy-sized hit the pavement behind me. I groaned, trying to turn myself over so I could see him, but my arms weren't responding.

Then I heard a rhythmic clicking sound. A shadow fell over my face, and a curtain of dark hair tickled my nose. "Hello, boys. Did you enjoy your soda?" was the last thing I heard the woman called Maddie say before something cold and dark pulled me down into unconsciousness.


	6. Ch 5: Changes

**The Age of Heroes**

**Chapter 5: Changes**

The first thing I noticed as I woke up was that I was really uncomfortable. My hands were stretched out awkwardly over my head so that they were partly numb; I couldn't figure out how they'd gotten that way, but when I tugged at them and tried to move them it didn't work. A few seconds later the first coherent thought I really had was, _My hands are strapped down._

My eyes flew open. I saw a plain white ceiling lit by fluorescent lights, the kind in offices and schools – or hospitals. I wiggled my hands again, panic suddenly punching me hard in the gut, but they didn't move. I tried to glance up at them but they were too far over my head. I couldn't tell what was holding them down, but it felt like leather straps. Thick leather straps.

I realized a moment later that my feet were strapped down too – not good – and that I wasn't wearing my regular clothes. I was wearing something soft and pastel green – hospital scrubs, I realized, and they had to be about three sizes too big. I guessed they didn't make scrubs for kids, really, but honestly that was pretty much the least of my worries right now.

Because aside from being tied up and having no clue where I was, I was alone. As in, Percy wasn't here. As in, I didn't know where he was, either. At first I thought maybe I was actually in a hospital – it would explain the scrubs and the lights and maybe the fact that my memory of the last time I'd been awake was pretty fuzzy. But that _didn't_ explain the straps or the fact that this place had no windows or nurses and there was a significant lack of medical equipment. Didn't they hook people up to those EKG things or whatever, that go _beep... beep... beep_ when they're injured? I didn't feel injured aside from a headache, and there was definitely no beeping.

So maybe this wasn't a hospital. But if it wasn't, then where was I?

I considered yelling for help, but that wasn't necessarily a good idea, either. I mean, sure, there might be a logical explanation for all of this and maybe if I yelled someone really would come help me, or at least explain what was going on. But you don't grow up a half-blood without having at least _some_ measure of caution beaten into you, usually the hard way. Yelling would let people know I was awake. And maybe I didn't want them to know that, just yet. Whoever came might not necessarily want to help.

Of course, there really wasn't much I could do in the meantime. There were no windows so I didn't even know what time of day it was and I had no idea how long I'd been here. My arms were cramped and cold, though, so I figured it must have been a couple of hours, at least. I tried to remember what had happened, going back through what I could remember until things started to get hazy. I remembered flying with Percy from Camp Half-Blood to Rockville, Maryland. I remembered getting lunch and walking to the funeral. I could remember the house and all the people milling about, and talking to Roger Baldwin about Anna di Angelo – my mother. Or, at least, I was pretty sure by now that she had been my mother...

And then we'd left, but –

The door slid open and interrupted me mid-thought; I immediately tried to relax and closed my eyes, because I'd rather have the element of surprise than not. It was better to let whoever had opened the door think I was asleep until I knew who they were and possibly what they wanted. Through my slitted eyelids I could see a person – a woman – silhouetted in the doorway. She walked over to my bed and the smart _click, click_ of high heels echoed off the bare walls of the room. She leaned over me, long hair tickling my nose. I did my best to keep my eyes closed and my breathing even, feigning sleep.

"I know you're awake," she said. And I _knew_ that voice. I abandoned all pretense of being asleep (obviously she knew I wasn't, anyway), and opened my eyes wide to stare.

It was Maddie, the doctor from the funeral; I remembered that she'd given us Cokes and shooed us out the door... And that was where everything had started to go fuzzy, I realized, narrowing my eyes as she leaned over me, blocking out most of the glare from the overhead lights so her face was mostly shadow. But it was still recognizable, and there was no mistaking her identity now.

Her face lit up as I opened my eyes and she smiled, stepping back from the bed. I had to turn my head to look at her, since it wasn't like I could sit up or anything. She was wearing a red dress that matched her lips exactly and equally-matched red pumps, but over that she was wearing a lab coat, like she was some kind of fashionista mad scientist or something.

Now, in my experience I've learned that the nastiest things can come in the prettiest packages. And I was pretty sure she was a bad guy, because I was strapped to a bed and nice people just didn't do that to kids. Especially not after giving them drugged soft drinks. "Who are you?" I asked, because she definitely wasn't just some regular family doctor – that much was pretty obvious.

Her smile changed and grew more gentle, the way a mother might smile at her son – not that I really knew, but I had a hunch. But she couldn't fool me with that, either. And there was something else about her, something... sad. For all that she looked and felt and smelled like deception, there was something really sad about her as well.

Not that I really cared about that right now. What I cared about was why she had me tied up, and where she was keeping Percy. I could worry about the rest later, when I was far away from here – wherever _here_ was.

"I'm here to help you. I won't hurt you." She spread her hands, like that was going to make me feel any better. It didn't. And it didn't mean I was going to lower my guard. I narrowed my eyes. I wanted answers. "Who are you?" I asked again.

She smiled at me again. "My real name is Medea."

_Medea._ For a minute my mind whirled sluggishly and then things clicked into place. "You're a witch," I said, my eyes widening as I tried to remember everything I'd read or heard about her. Mostly all I could remember was that she'd been married to the hero Jason and that she had killed a lot of people – including her own children. Not a good sign.

She shrugged a little, halfheartedly. "If you like. I much prefer the term 'chemist' these days, though. Or perhaps, more specifically," she smiled a little wider, "'_biochemist_'." She watched me, her eyes opaque; I couldn't tell what she was thinking at all behind the smile that was so obviously a mask. If you asked me, it was creepier than if she'd yelled and waved a sword around in my face and tried to eat me or something.

I mean, sure, I'd been in and out of worse situations than this, and I honestly didn't really know what she wanted. Maybe it _wasn't_ anything bad. But she obviously had no problem killing kids, and I was still tied up and I didn't know where Percy was. I'd learned to expect the worst.

My stomach clenched. What if he was already dead? But I would know, wouldn't I? "Where's Percy?" I demanded.

She must have seen the look in my eyes, because she laughed lightly and shook her head a little. "Don't worry, Mister Jackson is fine." She smiled again, and this time it really _was_ creepy. "He really is quite lovely," she said, like she was talking about a car or a horse or a flower or something. It made my stomach twist. "My aunt was right about him. You," she added, her smile flashing her white teeth at me, "have very good taste."

"... Your aunt?"

Medea smiled wistfully. "Circe. She's told me all about your little boyfriend. Pity he ran away from her spa," she said lightly before she looked back at me. "But you... Well, we can't have you running away, now can we?"

I felt a new surge of anger as I strained against my bindings, but they didn't budge. Percy had told me about the time he'd met Circe, and I had no desire to be turned into a guinea pig or anything of the like. In fact, I didn't want to get turned into anything at all. I just wanted to be let go. "What do you want with us?" I asked, my voice hopefully sounding a lot braver than I actually felt.

"Oh, I only want _you_, Nico," she said, leaning closer, her hair falling over one shoulder as the lights glinted off her glasses. "Percy Jackson was just a bystander, but I couldn't have just left him, now could I?" She straightened her glasses and kept peering at me. "He would've come after you, and it might have made things difficult. And now I have a handy little piece of insurance to see that you cooperate." She paused, smiling with self-satisfaction. "I knew you'd come to that service. I knew you'd want to know."

I blinked, my mouth falling open. "So _you_ sent the obituary?" I suddenly wanted to ask her if Anna di Angelo _was_ my mother, if she knew, but somehow I couldn't do it. It would be like asking your enemy for help. And I didn't want to do that. How could I trust anything she said, anyway? I was better off not knowing, if it came to that.

Her smile grew wider. "Such a smart boy," she cooed, and brushed a hand along my cheek. I made a face and turned my head away. I didn't want her touching me.

She pulled her hand away, but she didn't seem overly bothered. "You know, you look a lot like your father," she said.

I didn't want to hear anything about my father, and I especially didn't want to hear that I looked like him. I tugged again at the straps around my wrists, but they held fast. "Let us go." I didn't know what she was planning or what she wanted me for, but I was really sure that I didn't want to have any part of it.

Medea shook her head sadly, though I didn't believe for one second that she actually _felt_ sad. "I'm afraid can't do that. You see, I've made a bargain, and I intend to fulfill it."

My stomach twisted again. That was never a good thing to hear, and especially not from a witch with a past history of child murder. "What, with me?" I asked, but of course – it was obvious. Although... it still didn't really make sense. If it was something to do with the prophecy, Percy would be the one she wanted. He was going to turn sixteen next year. Why would anyone want _me_? Sure, I was the son of Hades and I guessed that made me pretty desirable amongst his enemies, but it wasn't like my father was all that fond of me. In fact, I was pretty sure he wouldn't complain at all if I were to end up dead. Again. It was easier to control me that way, I thought wryly.

But then who could she have made a bargain with in the first place? "Who are you working for?" But as soon as I'd asked it, I already knew the answer.: "_Kronos_." Who else could it be? The gods were too divided over the looming war to engage in other petty disputes. It was almost ironic how it had started to unite them… and divide them all at the same time.

"Mm, yes," Medea said, smiling that red-lipped smile of hers. "You are quite perfect for his needs." Then she chuckled and reached into her pocket. "Or, should I say, _almost_ perfect?" And she pulled out a vial of clear, slightly greenish liquid, and uncapped it.

Do you ever think you've completely forgotten a dream, until something reminds you of it and suddenly you can remember all of it in vivid detail? I don't know if that's ever happened to you, but right then it happened to me. I got one look at the contents of that vial and suddenly I was right back in the middle of the dreams I'd been having for the last week – the dreams that I'd been having trouble remembering. All I knew was that there had been a lot of pain and twisting and bright lights. I remembered I'd felt trapped and that things were happening too fast. But I hadn't been able to remember anything else, and I'd tried to convince myself it wasn't one of those prophetic dreams that half-blood kids sometimes have.

But now I knew I was wrong. Just looking at the stuff in the vial made my stomach heave and it put my memory on overload until I was nearly drowning in that horrible dream. I guess the nausea must have shown on my face, because Medea laughed and said, "Oh, don't worry." She reached into the pocket of her labcoat and pulled out a syringe, filling it with the liquid. "I find that direct injections work so much better than simple ingestion, you see."

I did _not_ want to ingest that stuff – and I _really_ didn't want an injection. As she stepped closer I struggled as hard as I could against the straps holding me down. I didn't care if I looked like a terrified little kid or even a crazy person, I did not want that stuff inside of me. Whatever it was, it was nothing good. It had to do with Kronos, and it had to do with my nightmare, and it could only be something evil.

But I was powerless to stop it. The straps held fast, and I could barely move enough to arch my back off the bed, let alone shy away from the needle or kick or hit the ancient witch-turned-biochemist as she leaned over me. She grabbed my left arm in a red-manicured grip that was a lot stronger than it should have been and plunged the needle into the vein at my elbow. I yelped and tried to writhe or jerk away, anything to get her to stop but she didn't move until she'd depressed the plunger all the way and there was no liquid left – at least, not outside of me.

Now I know it sounds corny and pretty impossible, but I could _feel_ the stuff inside me, so cold it burned as it traveled through my veins, setting them on fire until it reached my chest –

And I felt my heart seize up. I gasped – for a split second I thought I was having a heart attack, that I was going to die of heart failure before I'd even gotten to be a teenager. I couldn't get enough air into my lungs and I gasped, my fists clenched and my eyes staring at the ceiling without actually seeing anything but the bright, blinding white of the lights.

Then my heart suddenly felt like it started again, this time on overload. It felt like it was beating a million times a minute, blood rushing in my ears until I couldn't hear anything else. And then the rest of the pain hit me.

It felt like my insides were trying to become my outside. It was excruciating; I felt lightheaded and my heart was still pounding and my vision was going black and spotty. I heard yelling, moaning, and it seriously took a minute for me to realize that the noises were _me_, coming from my own mouth, from a throat that felt like it was being strangled and stretched all at once. I thrashed my head around, trying to get away from whatever was going on, trying to get air into my lungs. For an instant I turned my head and saw Medea staring at me, her expression calm and calculating as I slowly died – or _felt_ like dying – on the bed before her.

I think it wasn't long after that I fainted.

*

"Ohhh." My head hurt, and I felt weird – awful, really, like every muscle, every _bone_ in my body was sore. My head was pounding and my chest was tight. It was hard to breathe. I took a breath and my throat felt raw and scratchy – I coughed, the reverberations echoing through the tiny, windowless room and shaking my body until the soreness I felt had managed to double itself and I thought that I might really like to be asleep again right now.

The door slid open – there might not be any windows but there _had_ to be some kind of monitoring system – and Medea stepped into the room again, her face still hard to read (or maybe that was because my eyes were having trouble focusing) but looking almost… triumphant.

Well, I thought muzzily, at least I wasn't dead. At least, I didn't think so. Hypothetically I knew what dead felt like, and this wasn't it. This was something different. This was pain, but a weird kind of pain – a sense of _wrong_. Honestly, if I had to describe it, I would have said that it felt like my body wasn't really mine. But that didn't really make sense, so it had to just be some kind of disorientation. Who knew what kind of side effects that green stuff could cause? Or main effects, for that matter?

Medea came over and reached above my head, and I felt two fingers press against the pulse in my wrist as she asked, "How do you feel?"

"Why do you care?" I spat, and my voice sounded weird and deep in my already-aching head. It was like when I had a head cold, only my head ached a million times worse.

She looked down at me disdainfully, like how dare I ask such a rude question. I didn't really feel like pointing out to her that it was much more rude to strap a person down and inject them with green stuff of unknown origin. She huffed a sigh and said, "I _haven't_ hurt you, you know."

"Coulda fooled me," I croaked. Despite her insistence, I sure hurt a lot.

She looked up and down my body and nodded slightly. "A little discomfort is to be expected. It will pass." She moved her fingers down my arm, making my skin tingle and I looked away. I really wanted her to stop touching me and let me go. I wanted to go to sleep and wake up on the floor of the Hermes cabin and find out this was all a dream. I wanted to be pretty much anywhere other than right here, and I wanted to be there with Percy.

"Now, I am going to unstrap you. And you will get changed and come with me," she said, looking me in the eye.

I admit, I was kind of shocked speechless. What? No, of course I wasn't going to go with her. I didn't want to do anything she asked – I wanted to punch her in the face and find Percy and get the hell out of here. I'm pretty sure the look on my face must have told her that, because she laughed and reached up to loosen the strap around my left wrist.

"You can't run, Nico di Angelo. I have something you value, if you'll recall." My eyes narrowed – _Percy_. She still had Percy, and she knew she could use him against me. Fuck it, but I wasn't just going to let him die for me – _again_. "And," she continued with a sick little smile, "I've given you a sedative. You'll find your body less than willing to respond, especially while you're still feeling the aftereffects of the… treatment."

Is that what she called that stuff? A 'treatment'? "What did you do?" I spat, and as I felt the cuff loosen I tried to swing my arm up at her face, not caring what part of her I hit as long as I hit _something_. But my arm felt leaden and I could barely get it a few inches off the table before my muscles began to scream with the effort and it dropped back down with a dull thud, almost of its own accord. "What did you _do_ to me?" I demanded again as she began working on my right wrist.

"I've done what my master asked of me," Medea replied smartly, as the right cuff fell away. She looked down into my face again. "I've made you suitable for his purposes." Her lips curved into a smile that was almost feral. "And I do think he'll like what he sees."

I didn't know what she meant by that, but I was starting to feel sick to my stomach on top of everything else. She'd done _something_, all right – whatever that stuff had been, it had done something horrible and I didn't even know what it _was_. And I wasn't going to get a straight answer out of her. I was beginning to see that now. It made me hate her even more.

She unstrapped my legs and I tried to sit up – much to my chagrin (and, well, a couple of feelings a whole lot worse than chagrin), I could barely do it on my own. I tried to jerk away when she reached out her hands to help me, but I wasn't fast enough and she slid her hands around my arms and helped me to sit up.

I didn't like sitting up. The room felt like it was being tossed about on an angry sea and my arms and legs still felt half-numb and barely attached to my brain. Medea walked over to the only other piece of furniture in the room – a shiny metal cabinet – and pulled out an armful of something.

She came back over to the bed and handed me a stack of folded black cloth – clothes, I realized, as my arms seemed to droop even with the weight of just a pair of jeans an a t-shirt. "I'm afraid I had to estimate the size – you understand – but these should be adequate for now." She set a pair of black boots on the bed beside me. I frowned. They looked _way_ too big for me. Estimate my ass – more like she'd just grabbed the first thing she'd seen in the men's section at Wal-Mart.

"Now," she said, turning for the door, "I will let you change yourself and you will come with me. Please don't dawdle." The door slid shut behind her – not that it made me feel all that much better, because I was obviously being watched somehow. Her leaving to give me some modicum of privacy was obviously just a pretense, and she had to know I knew that.

I looked down at the clothes in my arms. For a minute I didn't want to get changed – it felt too much like cooperating with my captor, and I'd really rather not to anything remotely approaching that. But on the other hand, I _was_ wearing only hospital scrubs and they weren't exactly the most rugged of clothing. If I was going to even try to make some kind of getaway, better clothes would be nice. And besides, the scrubs were bright green. I had to admit, I felt much more comfortable in black.

I scowled, but managed to set the clothes on the bed beside me and struggled – slowly – out of my shirt. It didn't really seem as huge as I'd first thought, but then it's pretty hard to tell things like how big your clothes are when you're disoriented and strapped to a bed. I tossed it on the floor – at least I wasn't going to be nice and neat for my enemies – and struggled into the black t-shirt Medea had given me. It was actually a pretty good fit, even if it took me three times as long as it normally would have to get the thing over my head and find the correct holes for my arms.

My limbs were starting to feel tingly now, like they'd been asleep for too long and were just now starting to get decent bloodflow. I tried to ignore it as I slid carefully off the bed. For a minute I wasn't sure my legs would support me – they felt weak and wobbly and I had to grab onto the side of the bed to keep my balance. It sure was a low bed – I nearly doubled over it trying to get my leaden hands at the right height to grab it properly.

Pulling on the pants was just as slow a process, especially while trying to remain upright. But I managed it and as I stood there gripping the side of the bed for support and panting with the effort simply getting dressed had taken, I looked over at the boots she'd left me. I eyed them with some disdain – seriously, they were too big for me. They looked almost too big for Percy. How was I supposed to wear them? If she expected me to clomp around in huge boots like a loser…

I dropped one clumsily on the floor and shoved my foot into it as best I could, sure it would slide right in with inches to spare –

And it didn't. In fact, I had to sit on the floor and yank to get the stupid thing on my foot, but once the heel slid numbly in I realized they were a perfect fit.

Okay, this was kind of weird. Why was my perception so far off? What the hell had she given me? What was going on?

I stared at my left foot, still in just a sock. I tried to get my leg closer to my face, measuring the size of my foot with my hand, but it didn't look huge compared to my hands or anything. It looked normal in proportion to my hands and arms and…

Seriously. What had that witch _done_?

The bed was low enough that I could paw the other boot off of it and pull it on while I was sitting on the floor as well. I'd just managed to pull myself back into a standing position using the bedframe when the door opened and Medea reappeared.

… Had she been that short before? Maybe I just hadn't been paying attention at the funeral. I admit, I had been pretty distracted. And, I mean, it wasn't that she was really that short. She just wasn't as imposing as I remembered – but, well, that was probably just because I knew what she was, now.

Medea smiled at me and I hated seeing the way that she looked so satisfied, but I told myself that I had lost the battle to win the war. It was okay. "Very good," she said, clasping her hands before her. "Now, you will come with me. My master is on his way to this facility even now. You should feel honored – he wants to speak with you personally about this matter."

Her master? Kronos? Coming here? My stomach clenched, but I said, "Yeah, well I don't want to speak with him." My mind began to race. What could he possibly have to say to me? And what could I possibly say to him, other than 'fuck off and leave me and my boyfriend alone'? That was all I cared about, really – maybe it was selfish but I didn't want to be a part of this war. I didn't feel like it had much to do with me; after all, it wasn't like I had a strong bond with my father or anything. I didn't care if shit happened to him. I just wanted to be left alone.

But when you're a half-blood, that's just not how it goes. The gods' business is your business – well, when they _make_ it your business. And they had. I could hate them all I wanted for it, but it didn't change things and I knew that. Even if I wished I didn't.

"You will find you don't have much of a choice in the matter," Medea replied, unfazed. "Now, you will come with me," she repeated, and beckoned for me to follow her.

But I shook my head, despite the way it made my vision swim nauseatingly. "No," I said fimly. "I'm not going anywhere until you tell me what the fuck you did," I demanded, and stood my (shaky) ground, staring her down. I wanted to know what she had done, and I wanted to know now. Medea could lead my numb and aching body anywhere she wanted as long as Percy was safe, but she had better damn well tell me what she'd done to me, first.

She paused a moment, but seemed to decide it was a reasonable request (because it _was_, considering). She reached into her pocket and pulled out a compact, handing it to me. It felt small and cold in fingers that still only felt distantly attached to my mind. "Take a look for yourself. My, but you've become a rather handsome young man, haven't you? I think even Mister Jackson would agree."

I bit back a reply as I flipped open the lid clumsily and lifted it until it was at the right angle to see. And then I nearly dropped it.

The face I saw staring back at me was me, but it _wasn't_ me. I blinked, but the features didn't change. It was… wrong. It was weird. I mean, I was looking into the mirror and I could see my eyes and my nose and my hair, but my face looked...

Older. I was _older_. I was –

"Sixteen," Medea purred proudly, and her hand closed over the compact, snapping it shut as she whisked it away to replace my reflection with her face, too close to mine. "Sixteen and not a day over. Old enough now to fulfill your destiny, and my end of the bargain with my master."


	7. Ch 6: The Offer

**The Age of Heroes**

**Chapter 6: The Offer  
**

"But... What…?"

I tried to come up with something – anything – to say. But the face I'd seen in the mirror just a moment ago, so familiar but so alien all at once, had thrown me totally off balance. For a minute I didn't even know what to think.

I mean, technically I'd been born way more than sixteen years ago, but Percy and I (and Chiron) had always figured that the big prophecy Kronos was relying on must mean biological age, not physical one. Besides, it was hard to figure out how old you were when time had flowed around you like a river that parted and rejoined itself once it had passed you by. But if the prophecy meant biological age like we thought it did, then...

Then that was what Medea had done. That was what Kronos wanted. Whatever had been in that vial of hers, it had made me sixteen in body if not in mind, and I suddenly wasn't sure that anyone was going to quibble with that. Well, any of the bad guys, anyway.

Because I knew for sure now that Medea was a very, very bad guy. Well, bad girl – you know what I mean. She was obviously planning to turn me over to Kronos with the expectation that they could blackmail me into helping him do… whatever the prophecied sixteen year-old half-blood was supposed to do.

I was now the one expected to make the decision that could save or destroy Olympus. And it suddenly seemed like too much to deal with. "What did you _do_?" I asked again, but by that point I wasn't sure there was much use in asking, anymore. I just didn't have anything else to say.

"I've done just what I said – you are now sixteen, and able to fulfill the prophecy as my master wishes. I've answered your question; now, come with me." She turned smartly as the door slid open, grabbing one of my arms in her too-tight grip to lead me out of the room.

I hate to admit it, but I probably couldn't have made it if she hadn't been holding onto me. Walking as fast as we were going was disorienting, and I felt clumsy and awkward and my legs still felt a lot like Jell-O. She led me down the hall past rows of doors – it was hard to tell what kind of building we were in or how big it was based on what I could see, and there weren't any windows in the hall, either. There were a couple of big metal canisters sitting against the walls here and there, but they all they had was warning labels and chemical formulas on them that I didn't understand. Honestly, most of my concentration was going into trying to stay upright in a body that didn't feel quite like mine.

We turned a couple of corners before Medea came to a door and stopped, pulling out a keycard and swiping it through the pad next to the handle. She punched some kind of code in and the door unlocked, and before I knew what was happening she had shoved me inside. The room was small and furnished only with a bed and a chair. Both looked pretty uncomfortable.

"You will wait here. I will be back when my master has arrived," Medea said, and closed the door in my face. I managed to take a few steps forward and bang on the door, even as a wave of nausea hit me from being upright so long.

"Hey!" I yelled, pounding the flat of my hand against the metal even as I heard her footsteps retreating down the hall. "At least tell me where Percy is! I want to see him!"

But she was gone. And I was angrier than ever.

I felt trapped, and I was scared, and I hated both of those feelings. I mean, I'd been a prisoner since I'd first woken up, strapped to that bed while Medea did gods-know-what to me. But now it was pretty clear that she was planning on delivering me to Kronos, just like that. I'm used to being in bad situations, but they had never been quite like this. Even when Percy had told me about his previous quests, they hadn't been like this. Even the Lotus Hotel hadn't been like this, though I guessed prisons did come in all shapes and sizes. But I was used to something I could fight my way out of, and this place wasn't it. I didn't know where my sword was, and I didn't know what I'd be up against even if I did have it. I didn't know where Percy was, and I had no way of contacting anyone. Hell, no one was even supposed to know we were gone in the first place.

About then my head started spinning again, and I had to stumble over to the wire-frame bed and collapse onto it before I ended up on the floor. I stared at my hands, my fingers grasping the knees of the black jeans Medea had given me, and tried to reconcile everything that had happened with what I knew and how it might get me out of here.

So I was sixteen – or, at least, my _body_ was sixteen, and that was apparently all that mattered. That meant that I was taller and probably stronger, but I was also drugged and it was definitely making it hard to move or think straight. It was the only thing, I told myself, that had kept me from punching that witch's face in and breaking myself and Percy out of here. Wherever he was, if he was even okay.

I sighed and hit the mattress with one fist. Percy _had_ to be okay – if they were planning to use him against me, he had to be alive. They had to let me see him. Right? Maybe I could refuse to do anything until I saw him. But either way, assuming Percy was all right, we still had to get out of here and away from wherever this was before Kronos arrived and made matters worse.

But then the real problem was putting that idea into action. I still felt like crap and besides that I was alone and without a weapon. I scanned the room from my position on the bed, but I didn't see anything I could even use as a weapon. The chair was plastic and wouldn't break easily, let alone into anything usable. The walls were smooth concrete and there was an air vent in the ceiling but no way to get to it. Even though I was taller, the chair and bed were both too short for me to climb up to it even if I hadn't been dizzy. I realized belatedly that even if I had managed to get up high enough, while I might have been able to get through that vent while I was twelve, I wasn't anymore. I was probably too big to fit through there even if I wanted to.

There wasn't even a sink or a toilet in here, I realized – no water. Somehow they knew, or they'd guessed, that I might have been able to use that against them. And while I could probably cause an earthquake or something similar, I didn't want to do that while I was trapped wherever this was. At best I'd probably bring the building down on top of my head – or Percy's.

So much for that plan, then. But if there was no way out except the door, I would just have to wait. Medea would come back, Maybe I would feel better by then, and maybe I could get the drop on her and escape.

I didn't know how long I waited, sitting there in that tiny, spartan room, but I'd started to nod off by the time I heard sound outside the door. My head snapped up just as the door swung open and Medea appeared, beckoning to me with one hand. "My master has arrived and will see you now," she said.

My stomach felt like it went right through the floor. I admit that I was feeling better and I seriously thought about incapacitating her and escaping right then. But I realized as I stood that I still had no idea where we were or even how many of Kronos' people might be here with him. It was probably a bad idea to make a break for it without knowing anything about this place. I didn't like it, but for now I realized it would be better to play along. Maybe when she took me to see Kronos – because I assumed that's where we were going now – I might have an opportunity to end this stupid rapidly-building war once and for all. I would just have to take the risk. Maybe I could at least finally get some answers. If I could just buy some more time…

I stood sullenly and approached the door. Medea smiled at me and turned on her heel, beckoning again. "I know you must be feeling better, Nico, but it would be best if you came without a fuss." She stepped to the side and standing behind her was a telekhine, obviously meant to subdue me if I tried anything.

I still didn't like it, but she was right. "I want to see Percy," I demanded. "I want to know that he's okay before I go anywhere with you."

Medea crossed her arms over her chest and looked at me, but I looked right back at her, unflinching. If I was going to go with her and risk meeting Kronos, then she was going to give me something first. I had to know there was a reason to go through with this.

Finally, she sighed and said, "Very well. I will take you past his room."

"Fine." I scowled and followed Medea as she set off briskly down the hall. My sense of balance seemed much better than it had been before. I still felt weird, like I was walking through a dream, but I figured the only way to get used to this new body of mine was to use it. And the more used to it I was, the better my chances of escape later. Because I _would_ escape.

This place was large and confusing – or, at least, it seemed like it. Each inch of the hall looked the same as the last, with grey walls and grey doors and more of those metal canisters I'd seen before. There was the occasional man or woman in a labcoat, and even a few telekhines like the one outside my door, but none of them seemed to take much notice of us as we passed. At least, I thought, there wasn't an overabundance of guards here. Not ones that I could see, anyway...

Medea stopped in front of a door like any other, but this one also had a telekhine guard outside of it. Nodding to the guard, Medea swiped her card and keyed in the code. The door clicked open, and there, sitting on a bed exactly like the one that had been in the room I was kept in, was Percy.

"As you can see, I haven't hurt him. Just as I promised," Medea said with a wave of her arm, stepping between me and the door. Over her shoulder, I saw Percy look up. Then he pushed himself off the bed, frowning at Medea.

"Who are you? What do you want?" he asked, looking at Medea as though he didn't even notice me standing behind her. "Where's Nico?"

Medea only smiled, ignoring Percy's questions and turning back to me. "Now that I've kept my word, you will come with me."

"Wait!" Percy said, taking a few steps toward the door as Medea began crowding me out of the room, but I didn't want to go. I wanted to talk to Percy – I wanted to let him know I was okay. I reached out a hand to him, opening my mouth just as the guard's hand clamped around my forearm.

"Percy!" I called, and then I was bodily pulled from the room and Medea closed the door behind us. The last thing I saw before the door swung shut was Percy's eyes, looking directly at me with no familiarity in them at all.

I felt my gut clench. Percy hadn't even recognized me. Would he even still _like_ me like this? It would probably be really weird (to say the least) to have your younger boyfriend suddenly become older than you. I mean, it was weird enough on my end, realizing that Percy was now the one who was younger than me. What if this completely changed everything? But, I thought, it was only my body that had changed – my mind hadn't. I was still the same Nico. Percy would understand that. Right?

I hoped so.

The telekhine was still holding my arm as I scowled at Medea. "You will come with me," she said again. I was angry – I wanted to _talk_ to Percy, I wanted to make sure everything was still okay with us. I wanted to get out of here. But I couldn't do that – not right now. And Medea _had_ kept her word.

When I didn't struggle, she nodded again to the guard. He released my arm slowly. And I followed her as she led me down the hall once more. Not long after, we turned one last corner and there, at the end of the hall, was a single metal door, guarded by two _dracaenae_ with vicious-looking swords. The guards held their swords aside and Medea opened the door, leading me inside.

And there he was: he looked like the half-blood Luke Castellan, but behind that scarred human face he was the titan, Kronos. He was sitting on a chair that he must have brought with him, because it didn't fit the décor (or, well, lack thereof) of this place at all. It was large, throne-like and made of bronze and carved with intricate patterns all over it. It almost reminded me of the sarcophagus Percy had found him in back on Mount Othrys. He had Luke's half-celestial bronze, half-steel sword, Backbiter, in his hand. He appeared to be engrossed in it, his eyes fixed on the sword as he tested the balance of the blade in his palm even after Medea had shut the door behind us. She then stepped to one side so that I was front and center.

"What do you want?" I demanded.

Kronos ignored me for a minute before he raised his eyes, raking them up and down my body. It made me feel dirty and I wanted to squirm but I held my ground; I didn't want him to even think that I was uncomfortable. I wasn't going to show any weakness in front of him.

And then he finally spoke. "This is the boy, Nico di Angelo?" His voice sounded like Luke's, but there was something underneath it, something that was like metal scraping against rock. It was hard not to cringe at the sound of it.

"Yes," Medea said from behind me. I wasn't looking at her but I could practically hear her pleased expression in her voice. "This is Nico."

"Hm." Kronos looked me over again. "And he is sixteen?"

"Yes," Medea answered again, and this time I couldn't help but scowl. This whole thing was unnatural, and I hated it, and I wanted nothing more than to be back in my own body again.

But that was the worst thing about it – I already _was_.

"Good," Kronos said, his gaze turning back to me. "Good. You have done a fine job, Medea."

"Thank you, my lord." She sounded like someone had just given her the answer to life. It made me sick.

"Nico," Kronos said, finally addressing me, and suddenly I didn't want those eyes on me anymore. "I have much I want to talk about with you."

"Like what?" I asked flatly, looking right back at him.

He only smiled. "Like your future."

I snorted. Probably not the most polite thing to do, but I was beginning to not really care. I didn't take kindly to being kidnapped and experimented on, or whatever Medea had done. "What do you know about my future?"

The titan seemed unfazed by my rudeness. "Much, I think," he said, finally setting his sword down at his side and steepling his fingers over his knees. It looked like an odd gesture for such a young man, but the thing looking out from behind those eyes was old. Very, very old. "As much as I know about your past, in fact."

I said nothing, just waited for him to go on.

"I know why you are here, Nico di Angelo. Your father seeks to become powerful, more powerful than his brothers and sisters. You were to be his chance – his champion, Nico. You see, your father tried to put you into a position of power when he asked Percy Jackson to trade his life for yours. In doing so, he wanted to ensure that you would be the half-blood of which the prophecy spoke. But where he has failed, I have succeeded."

"By ruining my body!" I burst out. "By having her," I motioned to Medea, "experiment on me! And why should I listen to you, anyway?" I asked. "If you know anything about me, you know I'm not on really good terms with my father," I told him, glaring. I hated the thought of being my father's puppet, and I wasn't going to be Kronos' puppet either. Let them conquer heaven and earth on their own, and leave me out of it.

Kronos laughed, the sound coming from deep within him so that it sounded inhuman and wrong coming out of Luke Castellan's mouth. But it wasn't Luke Castellan's mouth any more. It was Kronos' mouth now. I guess it was pretty easy for me to think that – I mean, I hadn't really known Luke before he'd joined Kronos' side or become the vessel for the titan. I admit, I didn't have a hard time thinking about him only as Kronos; whatever there was left of Luke, it was fading fast. I could feel the life force in him dying.

"Because I can make you a better offer than he ever could. Soon I will have power greater than your father or any other god. I can offer you so much more," Kronos said. But if he was trying to impress me, it wasn't working. I didn't care about his boasts or his power, and I definitely didn't care about his lies. Because I knew the truth. He wasn't powerful. He was dying.

Kronos looked up and into my eyes for the first time, and his gaze seemed to burn me from the inside out. It was like drowning in a pit of fire, and I couldn't climb out. "I want you, Nico di Angelo," he said evenly. "I want to make you my new body."

_What_? I barely kept my mouth from falling open in shock. No way. No way in _hell_. "I know your secret," I said. "I know you're dying. And I'm just a half-blood, the same as Luke. What good would my body do you? You'd just burn out inside of me, like you're burning out inside of him. And I'd go first. That's not a deal, that's _suicide._"

Kronos narrowed his eyes, "You are a half-blood, true. But you are powerful, Nico. You have no idea, but I do. You possess a power over life and death that Luke does not. In your body, I could weave our powers together so that death cannot touch us. You will not be like Luke. You will be invincible."

"You mean _you'd_ be invincible," I said. I didn't even know if any of Luke's mind was still _in_ there anymore, and it wasn't like Kronos would have let him go even if he was. No, the second I let Kronos into my body, that was it. Game over. And I was not going to go out like that.

"You're passing up the chance of a lifetime. Think about it," the titan chided, lifting one finger. But I didn't change my expression, and I definitely wasn't going to change my mind. Why should I trust him?

Then he sighed. "If you will not help me, then there is Percy Jackson. The same can be done with him as was done to you. I do not have to wait even a year for him to make his choice."

I shook my head. "Percy's powers over death are only an echo of mine. He can't do you any good," I said, frowning. I mean, we'd talked a little about it, and it seemed that he'd picked up about as much of my power as I had of his. We could do little things, and some big things briefly, but we were hardly equals in each other's domains. And Percy would never help Kronos, death powers or not. We both knew that.

Kronos raised an eyebrow. "Perhaps not, but what would you do to save him from the fate that Luke suffers now?"

"... Fuck you," I spat, but he was right. He could use Percy against me like that and I couldn't, _wouldn't_ let him die again. I didn't know what would happen when Percy became a subject of my father's realm again, but I intended to put that day off for as absolutely long as possible.

My stomach felt cold. Kronos just smiled. "I want to make this easy, Nico. I want you to want this. I am asking this of you and not Percy because I know you hold no love for your father, nor for the gods on Olympus. Neither do I. We are not so different, you see. We understand each other." He stood, pushing himself up off of his throne and walking toward me, his eyes almost glowing.

"You owe them nothing, Nico. Your father abandoned you and your sister from birth, and he has only ever tried to use you to gain power. But you deserve that power for yourself. I am only trying to give you the means by which to grasp it." Kronos stopped only a few inches away, reaching out with one hand to touch my face. I wanted to move away, to turn aside, but somehow I couldn't. Somehow I couldn't stop looking into his eyes.

"You've never fit in anywhere, have you?" he asked, and his voice was almost gentle. "Always an outcast, always on the run... It's a hard life. It's a life you don't deserve. I want to give you something better, and I know you want to take it."

"But –"

"When this is done, "Kronos continued, "when we have succeeded, together with Medea I will use the power of Olympus to fashion a new body for myself. With Hephastus' tools, she can do this," he said with a nod of his head, and when I finally managed to pull away from his eyes and glance back Medea was nodding too, emphatically. "I will let you go, Nico," Kronos continued, and I was pulled back into his eyes for a second time. "I will have need of loyal servants in my new regime, and you could be a powerful ruler. You and Percy both. It is the only way you will ever be free of a fate you do not want." He paused. "I do not wish to kill you. Can you say the same for any other god?"

His eyes were still so bright, so hard to look away from. His voice was insidious, working its way into my mind and even though I knew with every part of my body that he was utterly and completely evil, I had to admit… for a moment I considered it. For a minute I was tempted. He was right, after all – I didn't care for my father, and I didn't care for the gods. I didn't care who was in charge as long as I could live my own life, and Percy could live his. Maybe this would be easier… maybe we could just…

I shook my head, almost more to get those thoughts away from me than to tell the titan lord my answer. "No," I said firmly, my gut roiling. "I won't do it. I don't trust you." After all, how did I know he'd let me go, even if I did agree to his plan? And Percy would never forgive me.

And even though I'd just rejected his offer, Kronos smiled down at me. He took a step back, his hand falling from my face. "You say that now, little half-blood," he murmured, "but will you say it again?" He glanced behind me to Medea, who stepped forward and took my arm, turning me toward the door. I was too preoccupied with the thoughts swirling around in my head to resist.

"Think on what I've said," Kronos said as we left the room. "You will see that I'm right. I will ask you again, Nico di Angelo. And I think I know what your answer will be."

His voice made me sick. It was like he'd seen what I was thinking in my eyes, and he knew that for an instant I'd considered it. I could barely get one foot in front of the other as I followed Medea out of the room, the _dracaenae_ guards shutting the door behind us with a hollow metal clang.

But then, as Medea led me back down the hall and presumably back to my cell of a room, I felt something brush my arm. I turned my head to look but there was nothing there – just thin air. There _dracaenae_ guarding the door were still exactly where they had been. There was no one else in the hall, and Medea was still striding ahead purposefully. I must have imagined it –

Something brushed my arm again, and this time something flat was pressed into my hand. I tried not to show any outward sign that anything had happened while I tried to figure out what I had just been handed. It felt like a neatly-folded piece of paper. I had no idea what that meant or where it had come from (other than thin air, but that wasn't possible), but as we rounded the corner I shoved whatever it was into the pocket of my jeans just as Medea looked back at me.

"You'd do well to listen to him," she said, giving no indication that she knew anything about my receiving pieces of paper from thin air. "He's offering you your wildest dreams."

"If I'm willing to give up everything for them," I said, and shook my head again. "No."

"Hm," Medea said, and looked forward again as we rounded a second corner. "We'll see." She sounded the same as Kronos had, and it made my stomach shift uncomfortably. I tried to concentrate on just walking and remembering how many corners we'd turned and which doors we'd passed.

But once I'd been shoved back into the room, I had something else to concentrate on. I waited until Medea's footsteps had retreated down the hall. Then I waited a couple of minutes after that, just to make sure. Then, sitting on the bed and trying to ignore the way my legs folded up a lot differently when they were longer, I pulled the piece of paper out of my pocket and looked at it.

It was a piece of yellow legal paper, I realized, folded neatly into eighths so that it fit into the palm of my hand. Trying not to rustle the paper too much, I opened it and saw that it was a handwritten note. It took a minute to make the letters make sense, but that's how it goes when you're dyslexic. In slightly slanted printing the note said:

_I don't know who you are, but I know you're like me – a half-blood. If you want to get out of here, I can help you. Please don't tell anyone about this note. Don't let them find it. And don't do anything they want. If you want my help, tear off a corner of this note and slide it under the door. I'll see it. _

I stared at the writing, reading it over a few times as my brain processed what it meant. Someone was here – someone who could help. At least, that was assuming I believed them, but the way they'd slipped me the note in secret…

But wait, how _had_ they given me the note? Someone had pressed it into my hand, or at least that's what it had felt like. But there hadn't been anyone _there_. At least, not that I had _seen_…

And suddenly it hit me: _Annabeth_! She had the power to turn invisible. At least, with the help of a handy (and not-so-usual) New York Yankees cap. Could it be...?

I sat up straighter, staring at the note with a renewed interest, trying to remember if I had ever seen her handwriting. I wasn't sure, but I guessed the letters did look kind of girly… or at least precise, like I imagined a daughter of Athena and aspiring architect might write. Plus, there was the fact that the person who'd given me the note had been invisible, and the only half-blood I knew of who could do that was Annabeth Chase. And that actually made sense, I supposed, because she was the only person who knew we were gone and, more importantly, _where_ we'd gone. I had to admit that I didn't know if we were still in Rockville anymore – or even Maryland, for that matter – but she'd known where to start and maybe it had been enough.

So this was good – great, even. This meant that someone _did_ know where we were, and that she could get us out. But then there was the fact that Annabeth hadn't realized that I was Nico – based on the note she thought I was someone else, which I guessed made sense because the Nico she knew was twelve, not sixteen. If she hadn't gotten a good look at my face, then it would be easy to mistake me for a stranger. Hell, I thought, even if she _had_ gotten a good look at my face, she might not have reached the right conclusion. I admit that I probably wouldn't have.

But I was stuck this way now – possibly for good. Probably, for all I knew – I mean, why would the process be reversible? Kronos didn't need a way to make anyone young. But maybe, I thought, there was still some kind of antidote. Maybe Medea would have it. But, I thought with a sinking feeling in my stomach, I didn't know if I would be around here long enough to find out. Most of me wanted to get out, and get out _now_. I could cut my losses later. I just hoped they wouldn't be too great.

Creeping over to the door and pressing my ear to it to make sure there was no one passing by outside, I tore off a scrap of paper from the corner of the note and slid it under the door. And then I waited again.


	8. Ch 7: Familiar Faces

**The Age of Heroes**

**Chapter 7: Familiar Faces**

While I was waiting, I had plenty of time to think – time I didn't want, honestly, because all I could think about was Kronos and his offer, and how I had almost wanted to give in. I knew his deal had to be too good to be true – after all, why should he keep his word to me, or anyone else? The instant he had my body, he could do whatever he liked with it and I would have no power to stop him.

But then again, he'd said I _was_ powerful – that I had no idea, but he did. I frowned, wondering what that meant. I mean, sure, being the son of Hades did give me certain powers over the realm of the dead. It had also given me the ability to crack the earth, though it was much harder than you'd think and the only times I'd done it, I'd been really freaked out. I didn't even know if I could do it without getting worked up first. There hadn't ever really been the chance to try.

And aside from all that, there were Percy's powers. Chiron had told us that because of… well, the nature of our relationship, we had started to pick up on each other's abilities. I'd learned that I could choose whether or not I wanted to get wet, and I could also control water for a limited time – but that was as hard, if not harder, than starting an earthquake. It only worked when I got freaked out. It was really hard to do it otherwise, like trying to grab at something just out of reach.

But all of that together still didn't make me all that powerful… did it? I looked at my hands; they didn't look much different without anything to compare to, but now that I knew what had happened they looked wrong somehow. Why had it mattered so much to Kronos to make _me_ sixteen? I knew there was the prophecy about a sixteen year-old half-blood, and as a child of one of the big three gods I supposed I had been next in line behind Percy. And if Percy wasn't willing to help, and Thalia would never grow old or have her sixteenth birthday, then I guessed that did make me the titan's best shot. And he knew it.

I thought more about what I knew of the prophecy. I knew half-bloods got more powerful as they aged, and that probably went double for the children of Zeus, Poseidon, or Hades, who were the most powerful of all the gods. That made it dangerous for the gods (or anyone else) to let them even reach the age of sixteen, let alone live past it. So what if being sixteen meant that I had more powers – or just better control over the ones I already had? I had no real way to test that, short of creating an earthquake or something, and that wasn't high on my list of things to do right now. And I didn't exactly have any dead souls at my beck and call. So there was no real way to know, but if Kronos had planned this out so carefully... What if Kronos already knew how my powers would change? I wasn't stupid enough to think I was the only son Hades had ever had. But I was the only one who had some of Poseidon's powers as well. And I was the only one alive right now.

Kronos had been around a long time – as long as the gods. Maybe he did know what would happen to my powers, or at least he probably had a good guess. And he already knew how to entice me. So then if I said yes to his deal, what kind of power would I be giving him? He had claimed that in my body, he could cheat death. What if that was really true? What if I _could_ do that? And what if that meant I could keep other people from dying too? Suddenly I felt my heart begin to race. If I could do that, I could save Percy – I could make sure my father never got his hands on him again –

My train of thought was interrupted as I heard something outside my door. I tensed, not able to tell from the noise who or what it was. Was it my rescuer – was it Annabeth? What if it was Medea, or even Kronos himself? What if he wanted an answer now? Or worse, what if someone had seen the piece of paper and –

There was the sound of someone punching something into the keypad, and then the door unlocked and swung open. My eyes were already fixed on the door, looking for the figure on the other side, but there was nothing there. Until…

An outline appeared in the doorway, like a shadow that quickly gained more color and definition until, maybe five seconds later, I saw Annabeth Chase standing there. Her New York Yankees cap was in one hand and she had what looked like an ATM card in the other. I opened my mouth to speak but she held her finger to her lips and motioned for me to follow her. I looked past her and saw that there was no telekhine guard outside the door. I didn't know if he'd just left, or if she had taken care of him.

As soon as I'd gotten out of the room she swung the door shut behind me and grabbed my hand, pulling me down the hall. I wanted to know where we were going – and I didn't want to leave here without Percy – but I knew better than to ask her out loud while we could be discovered at any minute. I just wished I had something to distract me from the way I could see over the top of her head as it bobbed in front of me.

We turned a few corners until she stopped in front of an unmarked door. There was no keypad beside the handle and when she turned the knob it opened easily. Then Annabeth grabbed my arm and pulled me inside after her. She flipped a switch beside the door and I blinked in the sudden light as the bulbs overhead came to life.

The look on my face must have asked the question for me – "Storage closet," Annabeth said quietly, as the door swung shut behind us. "I found it and hid here earlier."

I looked around. "Some storage closet." It was more like a small room, windowless like the rest I'd seen and filled with more of those metal canisters and tubing. The walls were lined with metal shelves full of beakers and pipettes and centrifuges. It looked like a mad scientist's junk room or something. Where exactly had Percy and I been taken? I looked back at Annabeth. "Do you know where this place is?"

"MIT," Annabeth said, looking around like she was checking the room for bugs. "In the basement. I think we must be in some part of the Chemistry department." She frowned, and I copied her. If we were at MIT, then we definitely weren't in Rockville anymore – in fact, we weren't even in Maryland anymore. MIT was in Boston. "I tracked my friends here. Do you know how you got here?" she asked, finally seeming satisfied that the room was secure, though she did pull me over to the side so we could crouch behind two of the canisters.

'Her friends'? Then she hadn't realized who I was, I thought with a sinking stomach. I turned a bit so that I could look her in the face. I had to look down rather than up, even while we were crouched on the ground. My stomach clenched at the look on her face. It felt so wrong to have someone I considered a friend sitting inches from me without recognizing who I was. It was just like the look on Percy's face the last time I saw him. "Annabeth," I said carefully, "it's me."

She frowned, looking at me a bit more critically and tilting her head. "Do I… know you?" She looked like she was wracking her memory, probably trying to figure out who I was and how I knew her name.

"Yeah, you do," I hissed, before she could say anything else. "I'm Nico."

She blinked, and for a second her face was blank. Then her eyes went wide and her mouth fell open. Recognition began to dawn in her eyes, slowly. "Nico?" Her eyes flitted across my face, like she was trying to make my name and my face match up with what she remembered. "But you can't be – you're… what?"

"They did this to me – Medea did this. She's the one who brought us here. She's working for Kronos. She knocked me and Percy out and when I woke up she gave me some kind of injection," I said, watching Annabeth's face and hoping she would believe me. I had to still look at least a little like my old self. Maybe she'd see it, now that she knew it was me. "I don't know how, but she did this. I swear, I'm Nico." I spread my hands in a silent plea.

The tentative recognition in her eyes started to grow into something more confident. "Nico…" she whispered, continuing to stare at me until suddenly she said, "How did you and Percy get to Maryland?"

"What?" Was this some kind of test? "We flew on Blackjack. We ate at McDonald's and then we went to the service. It was at 6016 Roseland Drive. You can ask Percy – well, I mean, when we find him." I paused, trying to catch her eyes. "Annabeth, really. It's me."

The look in her eyes finally registered as true recognition, though her features still showed shock. I didn't blame her – it was a lot to take in. I knew that much. "But then if you're Nico... Is Percy…?"

I shook my head, already having figured out what her question was going to be. "No, he's still fifteen. At least, he looked normal when I saw him, maybe a couple of hours ago. He didn't recognize me, either." I frowned. "I don't think Kronos needs him. Not if he has me."

"But why would Kronos want you?" Annabeth asked. "And why turn you sixteen? Percy's – "

"Not likely to give him what he wants," I said grimly. "Kronos wanted to make the prophecy come true _now_. He already knows Percy's probably going to side with Olympus. He thought he could convince me to join him much more easily." I didn't really want to go into it any more than that right now, because he had almost been right.

"Oh." Annabeth was looking distinctly worried, and still very much off-balance, like she was still trying to reconcile the person she was seeing with the Nico she had known. I could just imagine the same look on Percy's face, and it made me feel sick. Then she asked, quietly, "So… can he? Convince you, I mean."

I felt my stomach drop as she asked so bluntly whether I was going to betray them or not. Leave it to Annabeth to get right to the heart of the matter. I thought about how I'd almost given in, about how I had thought about what aiding Kronos could do for me. I thought about how maybe Kronos could show me how to use my powers to keep Percy from dying again, _ever_. But the thought of the price I'd pay still made me feel queasy, and I shook my head resolutely. I didn't like the gods, but I wasn't going to help Kronos overthrow Olympus. I didn't trust him. Annabeth didn't need to know I almost had. "No," I said firmly. "He can't."

She studied me for a while, her gray eyes dark and I got the feeling that she was trying to see into my heart, like she wanted to make sure I was telling the truth. It was one of the worst things I've ever felt, and it made me feel like a traitor without ever having said yes to Kronos' offer. I felt more like a stranger in my own skin than ever, right then. The only thing that could've made it worse was Percy looking at me like that, and I realized I had no guarantee that he wouldn't, when I found him.

How could I have even thought about letting him down, I thought, when he'd already given his life once for me? I felt like a horrible person, but I tried not to look too miserable in case it would make Annabeth think I was lying. The last thing I needed right now was to think that I'd turn on her – or Percy.

After a long moment, she finally let out a breath and said, simply, "Okay. Then we need a plan." I felt almost faint with relief, but I didn't really have time to think about it because she was still talking. Athena's kids aren't nicknamed know-it-alls for nothing; right now, any plan Annabeth could come up with was probably a good bet. My head was still reeling from, well, everything that had happened. I knew I wanted to get out of here, but I honestly didn't know if I could come up with the best way to do it, so I was better off listening to her.

"We need to get Percy, and we need to get out of here," Annabeth said, and I nodded. That much I knew. "You said you've seen Percy – do you know where they're holding him?"

I frowned. "I don't know. This place is like a maze," I said, and Annabeth's face fell a little. I mean, yes, I'd been to see Percy, but this place was a maze of hallways and they all looked the same. I wasn't even sure how Annabeth had gotten me here from the room I'd been in, and that meant I definitely wasn't sure how to find Percy's room from here. I had to admit, it was a pretty crappy layout for a school – but then, Annabeth had said we were in the basement. I supposed they didn't hold classes in the basement.

"Besides," I went on quickly, "how would I get there without being seen?" I was pretty good at sneaking around, but I was pretty sure there was nowhere for me to hide if I ran into someone in the hall.

Annabeth quirked a half-smile and held up her Yankees cap. "I could lend you this," she said, dangling it from one finger. I blinked – she was actually offering to let me use her invisibility cap? Before I could think about it any more, she added, "But it doesn't do you any good if you can't find his room from here. Could you find it from the room you were in?"

I closed my eyes, trying to remember where I'd been taken when Medea had come for me. It hadn't been a long walk, and though there had been a number of turns, I was pretty sure that if I started from where I had before, I could find it. "I think so," I said finally, opening my eyes. "If you can direct me back there."

I realized she couldn't come with me – the cap only worked for one, and she'd taken a huge risk just getting me here without being spotted. I wasn't sure we'd be so lucky a second time, especially if I was going to have to get Percy back here once I'd found him. I didn't really believe in luck (when you're a half-blood, it doesn't seem particularly useful), but now might be a good time to start. I just hoped it'd be enough to get us back here safely, so we could finally get _out_, all three of us.

Annabeth nodded, but as she began to stand I thought of one last complication. "Wait – what about the lock on the door?" I asked. "How did you open it?" I remembered she'd had some kind of card in her hand. Was it some kind of universal keycard? Or had she stolen it off someone and seen them type in the code? If it was the latter then I was in real trouble, because I hadn't seen anything when Medea had taken me to see Percy last time.

Annabeth nodded, pulling the card from her back pocket. It was blue, with white writing that read _Kleidouchos Enterprises_ in Ancient Greek letters. "Here," she said, pressing it into my hand. I turned it over, and saw that on the back it just had a regular black magnetic strip, like any old bank card or credit card. "It'll open any door. Just swipe it and punch '1234'."

I felt my eyebrows rise. So it _was_ some kind of universal access card. "Where did you get this?"

Annabeth coughed, and I glanced up at her. "I... it was a gift," she said. "From my mother."

I felt my mouth fall open. "Your mother? You mean Athena sent you?" That was kind of a big deal – why hadn't she mentioned it before?

Annabeth shrugged and looked away, but I could tell she felt proud of herself. I didn't blame her – I mean, it's not every day your deity of a parent decides to give you a gift that will help you on a quest. I mean, my deity of a parent had never given me anything – not that I was bitter. I probably wouldn't have taken anything from Hades even if he'd offered it to me in a box wrapped up with a bow.

Hell, I thought, _especially_ not if he'd offered it to me in a box wrapped up with a bow.

But that wasn't the point. If Athena had sent Annabeth, or at least had a hand in helping her get this far, that was a good sign in my book. It meant the gods were trying to help us. I guessed it made sense – they were the ones who would suffer the most if Kronos managed to get ahold of the prophesied sixteen year-old half-blood and sway him to his cause. I just wondered if any of them knew it was me.

I swallowed my unease at that thought and tried to focus on what I had to do here and now. Get back to my room, get to Percy's room, and bring him here. I would worry about everything else later.

When I looked back at Annabeth, she'd taken a folded-up piece of paper from had back pocket, along with a pen. I recognized it as the same kind of paper her note to me had been written on. She pressed it up against the wall and started drawing on it, marking turns with little arrows. Then she turned around and handed it to me.

"This should get you back to the room I found you in," she said, tracing out the path with her finger. "From there you'll have to find Percy's room on your own, and then make it back here." She glanced up at me – it was just as weird as it had been a few minutes ago – and studied me for a minute. "Do you think you can do it?"

I looked at the tiny map she had drawn, every line perfectly straight and labeled neatly with the direction I needed to go to get there and back. I glanced at the card still in my hand, before I put it into my back pocket and held out my hand for her cap. "Yeah," I said, wishing I felt as confident as I sounded, "I can."


	9. Ch 8: Lost and Found

[ **A/N: **Very, very minor spoilers for about the first 100 or so pages of _The Last Olympian_ - so minor that you probably won't even notice if you haven't read that far, but be warned.

Alas, something I do not appreciate but feel I should mention is that recently I've found out someone has been plagiarizing my work. Guys, _plagiarism is not okay. Ever._ I work really hard on these fics, and it really hurts to see someone claiming they did all of this work when in fact they haven't. Please, please do not plagiarize. If you like it, say so. If you want to host it somewhere with credit, just ask. But please do not copy and paste and claim it for your own. It's not, and it's not okay to do that.

Okay. That's all I'll say about that. In the meantime, I will say explicitly that all characters and places from the PJO books are copyright Rick Riordan; all original characters, ideas, and locations are copyright to me (exlibris_tenisu on LJ and Aki-Chan04 here). I have not posted this fic anywhere else. Thanks. :D ]

**The Age of Heroes**

**Chapter 8: Lost and Found**

"Be careful," Annabeth said tensely, standing beside the door as I prepared to put her Yankees cap on my head. "This is a school – and that means there are a lot of civilians around. There are a lot of innocent people," she said, "that have no idea what's going on here. We can't get them involved."

She didn't have to tell me twice. I'd been involved in plenty of fights in public places, and it was pretty near impossible to keep people from seeing _something_. Thankfully, the Mist usually made them see something _other_ than what was really happening. But that didn't mean they couldn't still get hurt. And getting a bunch of college kids killed was not high on my list of things I wanted to do.

Besides. Maybe some of them were on Kronos' side. After all, he had swayed plenty of demigods, including Luke Castellan. At the very least, they could be working for Medea.

"I know," I said, and I pulled the cap onto my head. I wondered if I would feel anything – I mean, I'd never turned invisible before. Annabeth never acted like it hurt, but you never knew...

My arms and legs started feeling tingly, and I looked down to see that they were fading from sight, along with the rest of my body. In a few seconds, there was nothing to see. I looked up at Annabeth; she was still looking in my direction, but her eyes weren't focused on me anymore. She looked like she was looking straight through me at the wall behind my head.

And she probably was. "Annabeth?" I asked, and she nodded, though she was still looking through me.

"It's working. Now go – and come back as soon as you can. I'll see if there's anything in here we can use and then we're going to get out of here."

"Okay," I said, and she ducked to the side as I opened the door and slipped out as quickly as possible, shutting it silently behind me. For a minute I held my breath, afraid that someone might have heard the noise and would come to investigate. But there was nothing. After a short, tense wait, I let out my breath and turned to the right.

I had the map Annabeth had drawn in my pocket, but I realized that if I wanted to look at it I'd have to take off the invisibility cap. I sucked in a breath. Well, I'd just have to hope I had it memorized. I could duck into a corner and check it if I really had to, but I was pretty sure I knew the way back to my room. It had seemed like a blur when Annabeth had grabbed me, but I'd spent a couple of minutes looking at her map before I'd left the relative safety of the storage closet.

Walking when you're invisible is a lot harder than it looks. I mean, it's not impossible but it sure is _weird_ not to be able to see your legs or feet even though you can feel them moving. I hugged the wall and took it as fast as I dared, which wasn't very fast at all. I didn't want to round a corner and slam into anybody. That would probably ruin this whole plan, to say the least.

I passed at least three people in the hall, all of whom seemed completely oblivious to my presence. All the same, every time I heard anyone approaching I pressed myself up against the wall and tried to hold my breath until they were past. Two of the people I passed were regular humans. They looked like college students – messy hair, jeans and t-shirts on under their labcoats, and one even had a stack of papers in his hands. The third was a telekhine; he didn't look particularly angrier than usual, though, so I hoped that meant no one had discovered me missing yet. Still, I waited an extra half a minute after the sea demon had passed before starting off again.

After a few more nerve-wracking minutes, I turned the last corner that had been on Annabeth's map and arrived outside a guarded door. There was a telekhine guard standing with his back to the door, completely oblivious that his prisoner was no longer inside. It was odd, I thought, that there'd been no guard when Annabeth had come to get me. She must have distracted him – and, I realized, I'd likely have to do the same thing to reach Percy.

Taking a (quiet) deep breath, I did an about-face, studying the hall in the direction I'd come from and trying to remember the journey I'd made with Medea to Percy's room. After a minute, I thought I had a good idea of where to start.

This was much slower going. I didn't want to make a wrong turn or get lost, so I crept along as slowly and quietly as I could, replaying the memory over and over in my mind each time I came to a turnoff. I admit, I was actually hoping Percy's door would be guarded – at least then I would know I was in the right place.

And I was right – I turned what must have been the fifth corner, after two more close encounters of the lab assistant kind, and there it was – another telekhine, standing guard outside a nondescript door with a pad for keycard access beside it. I crept down the hall, passing the guard until I was at the other end, opposite the way I'd come.

I wasn't really sure if this was going to work. I mean, it was a long shot – a _really_ long shot. But if it worked, it would be the perfect distraction, and hopefully it would buy me enough time with Percy to convince him he needed to come with me.

Being the son of Hades, I could feel that there had been a lot of death in this building. Nothing as morbid as human death, but there had been a lot of lab animals over the years that had given their lives for science. I could still feel some of them – the most recently dead, only gone a couple of days. Closing my eyes, I crouched down and placed my hand on the floor at the end of the hall, calling to all of the spirits that I could feel in my immediate vicinity.

_Come out,_ I whispered to them, _Come out and play. Nothing can hurt you now._

For a long time I didn't hear anything. I was starting to feel sick to my stomach with the effort, and I realized that maybe this wasn't going to work. I would have to think of something else. I had just reached into my pocket and pulled out the wadded up piece of paper that was Annabeth's map when I heard the first of them.

_Squeak!_ Sure enough, at the end of the hall, there was the white, ghostly outline of a rat. It blinked its beady black eyes at me, and I grinned.

_Over here!_ I called; even if it couldn't see me, it could sense me, and it came closer. _Come on_, I said again, giving it another mental tug. _You want to come over here! And go there!_

I gave it the urge to run down the hall, past the telekhine at Percy's door. The little rat-ghost sat still for a moment longer; then it wiggled its nose and took off, skittering down the hall and directly over the telekhine's feet.

The demon jumped, looking down sharply. The rat was clearly visible to me, but I knew anyone else – human or otherwise – would probably only see an outline. But an outline was enough. The telekhine grunted with surprise, and took a step forward.

_Yes._

Then I heard the rest of them. I grinned as another three rat-ghosts came running from the direction of the first, pelting down the hall after their friend. _That_ decided the telekhine, who left his post and went down the hall after them – whether curious, angry, or hungry, I couldn't tell. Either way, I didn't feel bad – he really couldn't hurt the rats, which were already dead. And besides, he'd just done me a huge favor. He'd left Percy's door completely unguarded.

_Thanks!_ I told the rats, who where having quite a time of playing tag down the next hall, and then I strode up to the door and studied the keypad. Taking the keycard out of my pocket, I swiped the card in the slot and punched in the code Annabeth had given me. I held my breath as the light on the card reader flashed a few times, but then it turned green and the door opened with a soft _click_.

Quickly, so I wouldn't have time to change my mind or feel any more nervous than I already did, I slipped into the room. I left the door open a miniscule amount, hoping it would stay open without actually looking like it was open. If it shut and the lock re-engaged, we'd be stuck in here and back to where we started. Possibly worse off, I realized, as a number of scenarios went through my head, the least bad being Medea's fury at finding out I had escaped and the worst being stuck in here with a Percy who hated me for what I'd become without any say in the matter at all.

In fact, right now Percy was sitting on the bed right in front of me and staring at me with a blank expression on his face, like he couldn't even –

_Of course_, I thought, my stomach flip-flopping both with relief and anticipation. I was still wearing the invisibility cap. He couldn't recognize me because he couldn't _see_ me. I pulled the cap off my head, waiting the few breaths that it would take for me to reappear to normal sight.

But once I was visible, my stomach flip-flopped again. Percy frowned, his brows knitting together as he stared at me. His eyes went to the cap in my hand, and I knew he recognized _that_. "Who are you?" he asked, standing up and turning to face me. I realized with a jolt of unease that we were almost the same height – and that I might actually be _taller_.

I could tell by the way his fingers flexed that his right hand itched to pull out Riptide, but he didn't appear to have his magical ballpoint-pen-that's-really-a-sword. I wondered how Medea had gotten it away from him – it always reappeared in his pocket when he lost it, a really handy feature that my sword did not come with. But he didn't have it now. Maybe Medea found some way to seal it or something. Thinking that made me miss my own sword, but I didn't know where Medea had hidden that, either. I hoped we'd find it before we left. I could always replace it if I had to, even if that wasn't my first choice.

Right now wasn't the time to worry about that, though. Right now I was honestly much more worried about the look on Percy's face and the way it was making me feel sick. Just like Annabeth, there was virtually no recognition behind his gaze. He didn't know me at all –

But then his face changed, registering something. My heart skipped a beat. And then he said, "You're the boy from earlier. Medea brought you here."

My heart felt like it stopped, sinking somewhere into the vicinity of my shoes, which were much farther away than they used to be.

"Did she send you?" Percy asked. His eyes flicked to the cap in my hand again, and I knew what he wanted to ask.

I answered the unasked question first. "This is Annabeth's," I confirmed, holding it up for him to see. "She lent it to me – she's okay," I added, as he opened his mouth again, probably to ask exactly that. "She's waiting for us. I'm not working for Medea." I was suddenly torn between wanting to get out of here now and explain everything later, and the way I really, really couldn't stand facing Percy like this without letting him know who I was.

He ended up making the decision for me. "What's your name?" he asked, taking a step forward as he studied me. "You look really... familiar, like..." He blinked a few times. My stomach churned as he took another step forward, and I didn't dare to say anything while he worked it out.

"Nico...?" Percy whispered, looking up into my face now that we were nearly toe to toe. I wasn't that much taller than him – maybe an inch or two, not more than that. But it was weird and wrong to be looking at Percy from this angle, to be leaning close and looking _down_ instead of _up_ and my body still felt stretched and too tall and completely wrong. I leaned against the wall beside the door for support. My knees felt wobbly and I wasn't sure if it was a sudden side effect of the serum or not.

He reached up and ran a hand through my hair, like he had to touch me to figure out if I was real or not. The look in his eyes was horrible – it was this kind of betrayed sort of horror that made me want to run and hide, but instead I said, shakily, "Yeah." I swallowed, feeling horrible and awkward and wrong. "Yeah, it's me."

And the next thing I knew, Percy had both hands tangled in my hair and he was kissing me, _hard_.

Not that I was complaining, really. In fact, I was pretty sure I was kissing him right back. Then Percy pulled back, grinning a little sheepishly. "You look... I mean, not that you didn't look, you know, before, but... I'm just glad to see you."

I blinked, and suddenly felt a blush start creeping up my cheeks. I looked like this and it _turned Percy on_? My stomach started doing flip-flops – I had been so worried that he'd be disgusted or that he'd hate what I'd become. Now that he obviously didn't, I was feeling a little lightheaded with relief.

"Hey," I murmured, sliding my arms around his waist to keep him close, not wanting more than the few inches we needed to breathe between us. "Maybe we should check to make sure everything still works." I was mostly joking, but I admit that a small part of me wasn't. Part of me wanted to just forget where we were. All that part cared about was that we were alone, and that I could probably overpower Percy and get him on his back on the bed before he even realized it.

... I guess being a teenager isn't always what it's cracked up to be. Take all the hormones you're just barely getting used to as a twelve year-old and crank them up times ten. Maybe times twenty. Was this what Percy felt like most of the time? Did you just get used to it after a while?

Percy laughed low in his throat. "Not _here_," he said, sounding a little reluctant, himself. Then he looked at me again. "But you... What _happened_ to you? You _are_ Nico, right?" He touched my face again, his fingertips cool against my cheek. "You have to be."

"I am," I repeated. "I swear I am. It was Medea – she did this to me," I said. "She's the one who drugged us and brought us here." I wasn't sure how much Percy knew. "She's working for Kronos." I could feel my features harden as I said, "He's here, Percy."

"What?" Percy whispered, like the titan could hear us talking about him in here. For all I knew, maybe he could – but if that were the case, he probably would have done something about it by now. "How do you know?"

I swallowed. I was going to have to tell him eventually, wasn't I? Sooner was better than later... at least, I hoped so, because if he started to make a scene here and now it wouldn't do either of us any good. I hoped he knew that, too. "Because," I said, "I've seen him." I looked down at Percy, feeling suddenly drained. "It's the reason Medea did this," I spread my arms again to indicate myself. "He knew he wouldn't be able to convince you to join him, so he had her find some way to turn me sixteen and made me an offer he thought I couldn't refuse." And, I added silently, for a short time I had thought I couldn't, either. But now, looking at Percy standing inches away, I knew that I could never have said yes. I'd been afraid he'd hate me because I was older than he was, now. What would he have thought if I'd joined Kronos in the fight against the gods?

I got a pretty good idea of what it would be like, watching Percy's face. He was staring at me, his expression a mixture of anger and horror. I didn't know what to say next – I mean, saying something like, _Oh, don't worry, I decided in the end he wasn't a good business partner,_ probably wasn't what he wanted to hear. I mean, I knew what he wanted to hear, but I just couldn't say it. It wouldn't be the truth.

Sometimes I felt like Percy was the only thing keeping me in this fight, or whatever it was. After all, if I could have my way I would just leave, get away from all of this and spend the rest of my life far away from gods and titans and everything else even remotely inhuman. I'd never asked to be a part of this. But when Bianca had died, it had made me involved. At first I'd wanted revenge; but then I'd fallen for Percy and that had made me want to help. For a minute, when I'd been talking to Kronos, I thought I could have had it both ways – I could have gotten Percy free of all this and had the power to leave the world of the gods in ruins so they could never bother me again. But now I realized that accepting Kronos' offer would only be trading one evil for another.

If I wanted Percy, I had to be a part of his fight. And that meant sometimes turning down what I wanted for myself, because he was willing to be a part of something bigger. And now so was I.

So I waited, and the silence stretched on until finally he said, "You considered it, didn't you." It wasn't so much a question as a statement. And besides, it was true and we both knew it.

I couldn't look at Percy's face anymore; I looked away at the wall. "Yeah," I said. "But just for a minute." I looked back at him, wanting him to know I was sincere. "I mean... He told me he could use my powers to cheat death. And he said he'd give me power in the new world he was forming." I sighed, pushing away from the wall and going over to the bed. I sat down on it, staring at my knees. None of those reasons sounded very enticing anymore, save the one. "For a minute... for a minute I thought it was a good idea."

"Nico... I know you don't like your dad very much, but that's no reason to give up on all the gods," Percy said quietly.

I shrugged; I guessed that was true. I mean, most of them didn't like me for more than one reason. There was the fact that Hades was my father – that he had gotten away with it on a minor technicality. And then there was the fact that I was seeing Percy – that I was _sleeping with_ Percy, and that I had some of his powers budding inside of me. That had made me even less popular than before.

But I also remembered when, only a little more than a week ago, Poseidon had come to us after we'd escaped from the Underworld. He'd said that he was on our side, and that he would do what he could for us. And then there was the fact that Persephone – who I knew for a fact didn't like me very much – had given Percy the means to leave the Underworld even after he'd given Hades his life.

Maybe some of the gods were on our side, but it wasn't most of them. Poseidon was powerful, yes, but he was only one among many. The rest of the gods – and even Kronos – knew how dangerous Percy and I could be. And now I'd been vaulted into the spotlight totally unnaturally, and I didn't like it.

There was such a thing as too much power. But even knowing that...

"What if he was right?" I couldn't help but ask. "What if I could learn to use my powers to cheat death – what if I could save you?"

"Save me?" I heard Percy walk over. He leaned down, one hand on my knee and the other on my chin, tilting it up so that he could lock eyes. And I knew I'd have to tell him what I'd been thinking all along, ever since that night on the beach. I hadn't been lying when I'd said Hades couldn't have him. Every time I looked at Percy, all I could think was that he was _mine_, and Hades was never going to own him. Not if I had a say in the matter. "Aren't you here to rescue me?" he asked, grinning a little, lopsidedly.

"Yeah," I said quietly, looking up into Percy's face because I didn't have a choice. "But I didn't mean that." And I was pretty sure Percy had known it, too.

The look on hisface told me I was right. "Then what, Nico? What do you think you have to save me from? The prophecy? It looks like you already have – "

"I don't care about the prophecy," I said. "But... Percy, I don't know what's going to happen if..." I swallowed, "when you die. You know, again. Whenever it happens."

His eyes went dark; I knew he understood. He knew how much Hades hated him. We both did. Honestly, my father wasn't all that fond of me at the moment (or, well, ever), either.

"Nico..." Percy's other hand came up to my face, and he put one knee on the bed, leaning closer. I inhaled his scent, sharp and fresh, and I had just started to slide my hands around his back and our lips had barely brushed when it happened.

The door flew open with a _slam!_ "I knew it!" the telekhine cried; apparently he'd come back from his otherworldly-rat encounter, and I mentally slapped myself upside the head. I was _supposed_ to have Percy out of here and safely back to Annabeth by now, but –

Percy jumped back, automatically falling into a defensive crouch, but it wasn't going to do much good. He didn't have a weapon, and just because telekhines were sea demons didn't mean they listened to him.

"I don't know how you escaped, but you're going right back where you came from!" The telekhine lunged for me, and in those few seconds time seemed to slow to almost a crawl as my body clicked onto autopilot, hauling my brain along for the ride.

I don't know what made me do it, but I leaped off the bed, grabbing Percy's arm and pulling him towards the center of the room. With the door open and the telekhine between it and us, there was a dark blot of shadow that fell across the floor, and as it touched us, I closed my eyes and tightened my grip on Percy's arm and thought, as hard as I could, _Storage closet! Annabeth! Now!_

As we sank back into the shadow and the darkness swallowed us whole, all I could think was that I hoped we wouldn't end up in China.


	10. Ch 9: All Together Again

[**A/N:** Slight spoilers for abilities mentioned in _The Last Olympian_.]

**The Age of Heroes**

**Chapter 9: All Together Again**

"What... was that?" Percy gasped, as Annabeth shrieked in surprise and I tried not to stumble into the metal shelving suddenly inches away from my face.

"Shadow... travel," I murmured, trying to blink the fatigue and nausea away. I'd only ever tried it a few times before, and I'd usually ended up someplace other than where I'd meant to go (which included, once or twice, somewhere in rural China). I'd known that as a child of the Underworld I could travel through shadows, but I'd found the actual execution was a lot harder than the initial realization. On top of that, the effort always left me sleepy and with a spinning head.

Add to that the fact that I'd never taken a passenger along for the ride before, and I was definitely ready for a nap. But I had to admit, as I took a couple of breaths to try and steady myself, I felt markedly better than I had the first few times I'd tried to shadow travel. And I'd ended up in the right place on the first try. Maybe those sixteen year-old demigod powers were actually starting to come in handy. Maybe, I thought muzzily, I should've tried this earlier.

I tried to turn towards Percy, and suddenly found his hands clamped on my shoulders and his face a lot closer than it had been a minute ago. Okay, so maybe it was good that I hadn't tried this before, because while I felt better than I usually did, I still felt like crap. And at least I'd known where I was aiming for – if I tried to go somewhere I wasn't familiar with, I always seemed to end up on the wrong side of nowhere.

Annabeth, who'd stopped yelling as soon as she'd realized it was us, appeared to have finally gotten her breath back, but her face was white and she looked extremely nervous. I supposed having possibly just given away our position was foremost on her mind, but given that the telekhine guarding Percy already knew we were gone and was likely to start a search of the area pretty soon anyway, I honestly couldn't really hold it against her. Besides, it wasn't like I'd been able to warn her beforehand that we were going to materialize out of the shadows in front of her face.

I glanced at Percy, blinking a few times to get his face in proper focus. "You okay?" I knew how shadow traveling could be disorienting, and it was probably doubly so if you weren't expecting it.

He was looking a little blindsided, but when I asked him that he frowned. "Am _I_ okay? Are _you_ okay? I don't think you should've done that." He looked down at himself and then up again. "It was pretty cool, though."

I shrugged as best I could with his hands still holding me up. "It was that or let the telekhine grab you."

"I was pretty sure he was going to grab _you_." Percy paused, giving me a rueful grin. "Worried he'd touch something that wasn't his?"

"_Guys_," Annabeth hissed, but I couldn't help grinning down at Percy despite how tired I was. No, I wasn't jealous – not of some telekhine, that was for sure. But it was pretty nice to hear him say he was mine, even if it was indirectly.

Percy glanced at Annabeth as though noticing her for the first time. "Hey, Annabeth," he said, then spared a moment to look around the room. "Thanks for coming to get us."

"Hm," she hummed in reply, still looking nervous. I handed her back her Yankees cap, which she started twisting in her hands. "Well, it wasn't easy."

I frowned. "How _did_ you find us?" I'd never asked, and now seemed as good a time as any; yes, we needed to get out of here, but for the moment we seemed secure and I had to admit, I was in no shape to travel just yet. I needed a few minutes to catch my breath. At least it didn't seem like anyone had started pounding on doors looking for a couple of escapees just yet.

"I took the train," she said matter-of-factly. "When you didn't come back Saturday night I booked a Sunday morning ticket and went to Rockville. I found Blackjack in the park – he was frantic, and he seemed like he wanted me to come with him. When I climbed onto his back, he flew me here." She shrugged. "After that, I just followed the trail of monsters." She wrinkled her nose. "I don't know how all these college kids just don't notice them, but I guess that's the power of the Mist."

"Right," Percy said; he looked pretty proud, and I didn't blame him. Annabeth was a smart, capable girl. More often than not, I had to admit that I was glad she was on our side.

"And then when you saw Medea take me to meet Kronos..." I murmured, and Annabeth nodded.

"I didn't know it was you, but I gathered that you were a half-blood. I didn't know where Percy was, so I hoped you might help me." She offered me a small smile, then looked to Percy. "I'm glad you're both okay, relatively speaking." She glanced back at me. "Medea can be really dangerous. Especially if she's working for Kronos." She huffed a sigh. "And to think, I buy her sunscreen! Well, not anymore."

Percy and I chuckled, but then all three of us fell silent, looking at each other. Now that the reunion was over, it was time to get moving. I pushed myself gently out of Percy's grip, testing my balance – I still didn't feel one hundred percent, but I was okay to move now. And we did need to move.

"So what's the plan?" Percy asked. "I know we need to get out of here, but..." He flexed his fingers, and I knew why. He still didn't have Riptide, and I didn't have my sword, either. Annabeth was the only one of us who was armed, and that was only with the bronze knife that she always carried. Even though I'd seen her use it and I knew she was more than competent, I also knew that one half-blood with a knife would not be enough to get us out of serious trouble if we ran into it. And the likelihood of that was larger than the alternative.

And then I thought of it – the perfect way to get our weapons back. I held up one hand, stopping Annabeth before she could speak. "Wait," I said, and knelt, placing my hand on the floor again. "I think I can get our weapons back for us."

Annabeth frowned. "You can?" She glanced at Percy, but he just shrugged as I closed my eyes and concentrated, calling once more to the spirits of the lab rats I'd called earlier. I hoped they were still listening.

They were – after a moment I heard Annabeth gasp; I opened my eyes to see that the three ghost-rats from earlier had appeared before me, and I grinned down at them. _You did a good job earlier,_ I said, petting the leader on the back with two fingers. _Do you think you can do one more thing for me?_

I sensed its assent. _There are two things I need – _these_ things_, I told it, showing him a picture of our swords in his mind. _I need you to bring them to me. Use your friends – bring as many of them as you need. Do you understand?_

His eyes were bright, and he twitched his nose and squeaked excitedly. Apparently he liked my idea; I imagined a good number of rats had died for Medea's experiments, and they probably wanted to get back at her any way they could. I didn't blame them – in fact, I felt pretty much the same way. I still felt a little sick to my stomach when I thought about getting out of here without finding a way to turn back. I mean, I didn't even know if there _was_ a way to turn back. Why would Medea have bothered finding a way to reverse the process? I didn't think that Kronos had been planning on changing me back and sending me on my merry way, had I refused his offer. No, I was pretty sure he'd planned to have me end up _dead_ on the blade of Backbiter if I refused. I shuddered – dying once had been more than enough for me. I was in no rush to do it again.

In front of me, the rat slipped away from my fingers and, together with his two friends, turned and scurried off through the wall. I pushed myself up off the floor, looking into the curious faces of Percy and Annabeth. "They'll find our swords and bring them back to me," I explained, wishing they wouldn't look so stunned like that. I'd always been able to talk to dead things – it just hadn't been as easy, I thought, admittedly with another uncomfortable twinge.

Percy spoke first, cracking a smile and nodding. "My boyfriend, king of the dead lab rats," he joked, and reached out like he was going to ruffle my hair. Only my hair was much higher than it used to be and he stopped mid-motion, settling for running his fingers down my arm instead. "Sorry," he said a little sheepishly. "It's gonna take a while to get used to this."

"Yeah," I said, starting to feel miserable all over again. It was.

Annabeth coughed a little, and we both turned to her. "Look," she said gently, looking me in the eye, "even if there's no way to turn you back... it's not so bad, right? You're still healthy, and you're obviously stronger. If you're going to be the half-blood in the prophecy..." But then she trailed off. I guessed there was no bright side to that. Now I understood completely how Percy felt – having the weight of Olympus on your shoulders was something no mortal, half-blood or not, should have to carry. I wondered how I could have thought that Percy had it easy, even for an instant.

"Hey," Percy said, and this time he reached out and took my hand, squeezing my fingers in his. "You said before that I wasn't alone. And you're not, either. Okay?"

I bit my lip, looking into his eyes, and I could see that he was sincere – as sincere as I had been when I'd said it to him. I hadn't been willing to let Percy face his decision alone, and now I could see that if the decision was going to be mine instead, he was willing to do the same. That meant a lot – and it honestly helped to quell the fear starting to pool in the pit of my stomach. The cold, worried feeling wasn't completely gone, but it also wasn't as overwhelming as it had been.

"Yeah," I said, swallowing and nodding. "Okay."

A second later, I was momentarily surprised as Annabeth put her hand on my shoulder. I turned around to see her watching me, her grey eyes just as focused and determined as Percy's. She smiled at me, and I couldn't help but return it. Knowing that she was willing to help, too, squashed down a little bit more of that fear.

"Okay," she said after a minute, "As soon as Nico's... um, rats bring back your weapons, we have to get out of here." I nodded – she wasn't going to get any arguments out of me on that one. Maybe we should have thought about trying to stop Kronos here and now, but honestly all I wanted right now was to get as far away from him as possible. We were outnumbered and outmatched, even with our swords. If we were going to take down the Titan lord, we'd need a better plan, and right now we just didn't have the resources. Annabeth knew that, and so did Percy. And so escape became our only option. "We'll have to be on our guard," she added, glancing at the door again. "Someone is bound to notice them and follow – "

She immediately fell silent. An instant later I knew why – there were sounds outside, like shuffling. Someone was walking down the hall. All three of us practically stopped breathing, not moving and trying to stay as silent as possible.

It was hard to tell whether the shuffling was coming or going, or even how close it was. But finally, it seemed to stop, and after a few seconds Percy let out a very quiet breath, glancing over at me and Annabeth.

Annabeth had just started to nod and give him a thumbs-up sign when the door flew open, revealing two large telekhines blocking our only exit on the other side.

One raised its head and shouted, "They're here!" just as the other lunged forward, intent on grabbing whichever of us he could get his hands on first.

But I wasn't going to give him the chance. If we were captured, we'd only end up separated. Kronos wasn't going to be happy with any of us, and me least of all. In my mind, I saw images of him torturing and killing my friends in order to get me to agree to become his new body. Once he knew that I wouldn't be swayed by his bribes, I knew he'd turn to threats. And he was going to make those threats a reality, and there would be no way I could stop him from doing it.

I couldn't let that happen. So I did the only thing I could – I grasped the backs of Percy and Annabeth's shirts and seconds before the telekhine's hands could touch any of us, we melted backwards into the dark.

*

All I could think was, _Up!_ Annabeth had said we were in some kind of basement, and I thought that if we got to the ground floor of wherever this place was we'd stand a much better chance of actually finding a way _out_. It was probably too much to hope that we'd end up outside. Or in China. China would've actually been nice, right about now.

We didn't come out in China, though. We came out on the landing of a stairwell between two floors (I guess that's what I got for thinking _up_), with the steady sound of people talking and footsteps just below us. I tried to raise my head to look, but then I was falling backwards and it was only Percy and Annabeth, each catching me under one arm, that kept me from collapsing to the ground.

"Ohh," I moaned, wishing the floor wasn't trying to pretend it belonged in a disco. It was certainly spinning like it thought it did. "Why is the staircase moving?"

"It's not," Annabeth said, and I got the impression that she was looking at Percy over my head. His fingers tightened around my arm as the two of them tried to haul me to my barely-responding feet.

"Nico?" Percy asked, and I felt his other hand touch my forehead. "Shit, you're freezing," he said, and then I felt the fingers of Annabeth's free hand touch my arm.

She drew a sharp breath. "He's right," she said, as Percy tried to wipe my bangs out of my eyes. "Are you all right?"

I wasn't, really. Maybe sixteen year-old powers weren't as reliable as I'd first thought. "I feel sick," I mumbled, as someone pushed past us on the stairs; they looked like they were on their way up to a class or something, binders and notebooks clutched to their chest.

Percy and Annabeth looked at each other for a second before tightening their grip and helping (well, mostly carrying) me down the stairs and into some sort of large, echoing hallway. They carried me across from the steps so I could lean against the wall; there was a water fountain there and Percy managed to run his hand under the water for a second before brushing cool, damp fingers across my forehead. It felt nice, and I tried to smile at him, but even that hurt, a little.

"Where are we?" Annabeth asked tensely. "And can we not do that again?"

"Seconded," I croaked, even if I was the one she was asking. We would definitely _not_ be doing that again. Not unless someone had a sword pointed at one of us; and maybe not even then, I thought tiredly. One more trip like that and I didn't think I'd come out conscious on the other end. "We can't have gone far." Bringing two people along for the ride was more than twice as hard as one, and I couldn't imagine I'd gotten us very far from where we'd been.

"Uh..." Percy looked around, then took his hand away from my face to point to the wall opposite us. There was a sign on the wall that read "10-250" and had an arrow pointing up the staircase. I didn't know what 10-250 was, but we probably didn't want to go there. "Near 10-250?"

"Great," Annabeth muttered, in a tone that said this information was entirely unhelpful. She looked around, her ponytail brushing past my cheek. "From the looks of it, we're still at MIT... I remember coming this way, I think..." She pointed down the hall to our right. The place just seemed to keep going and going and going... "Massachusetts Avenue is that way – there's a student center across the street."

"We should head there – try to get lost in the crowd," Percy said. He glanced at the steady stream of people flowing in two directions down the long hallway. "Then we can figure out what to do next."

Annabeth nodded. "I agree." She looked at me again. "Can you walk?"

I tried to straighten up, taking a slow, careful step as their hands hovered just under my arms. "I think so," I said, aware of how tired and spent I sounded, but determined not to slow them down. I didn't want to separate if we didn't have to, but I told myself the second I became a liability...

"Okay. Then let's go." Annabeth turned and took off down the hall, walking slowly enough that I could keep up but still with a sense of urgent purpose. Percy fell into step beside me, the hand that had been under my arm sliding down to my elbow and hovering there as we walked. I noticed that he'd put himself between me and the crowd of people, so the wall was directly to my right and Percy to my left. It was kind of sweet, I thought, smiling tiredly to myself.

"What about the rats?" he asked. "We're still unarmed."

That was a good question. "If we're still close enough... they'll find us," I said. "They'll be able to find me." I knew that I shone like a beacon to those that had passed on – one of the pros (or, just as often, cons) of being half-lord of the dead. If the rats were anywhere nearby – and they probably were – they'd be able to locate me.

Percy nodded, and then we fell silent as I put most of my concentration into walking as normally as I could.

This place reminded me of the Labyrinth, in a way – it was like a never-ending hallway, with doors on either side and the occasional hall intersecting the main one at a right angle. Most of the doors had frosted glass and were labeled with numbers that changed with the buildings, though not in any order I could discern. There were bulletin boards in between the doors with all sorts of flyers posted up, advertising everything from movie nights to swordfights hosted by something called the Society for Creative Anachronism. I wondered what _they'd_ think if they knew they had an ancient witch and Titan lord plotting humanity's doom right underneath their noses.

The crowd of people began to thicken, and ahead of us things sounded louder, the sounds echoing back to us. It looked like we were approaching some kind of lobby, and I could just make out doors at the other end with narrow vertical windows letting in the sunlight. But just as we passed a blue papered bulletin board advertising showings by the MIT Anime Club, something happened.

At first I couldn't figure out what it was. But then I realized that the noise behind us was dying out. I stopped, which made Percy stop two steps later and he turned, asking, "Nico? What – "

His eyes went wide, and when I turned around, I knew why.

Behind us, at the other end of the long hallway, was Kronos. He was flanked by five telekhines and his two _dracaenae_ guards, all of which were armed. He was carrying a weapon as well, but it wasn't Backbiter – it was Kronos' scythe, and he was using it to stop time ahead of and behind him.

The people between him and us were slowing until they'd almost stopped; they seemed completely oblivious to what was happening as the Titan lord who still looked like Luke Castellan walked forward leisurely with his monsters a few paces ahead of him like an honor guard. Papers fluttered off the walls in slow motion as he approached, and then he raised one arm, lowering it as he said, clearly, "Take them."

That was when Percy grabbed my elbow, and together with Annabeth we turned and ran for the doors.


	11. Ch 10: The Plan

**The Age of Heroes**

**Chapter 10: The Plan**

We came out of the hallway into a huge, marble-floored lobby with pillars and a dome high overhead. But we didn't have time to stop and admire any of it – we just kept running, beelining for the black iron doors ahead and away from Kronos' monsters. I could hear them behind us, probably gaining ground as Percy pulled on my hand and I stumbled after him.

Just before we reached the doors I heard a different sound – a sort of scuttling, squeaking sound. I looked to the left and saw a whole herd of ghost-rats approaching us, a black-bladed sword and a ballpoint pen balanced on their backs as they moved as one. "Wait!" I called, and Percy glanced back at me; I pointed and he skidded to a halt, dropping my hand to reach for the pen. Just as I managed to crouch down and get my hand around the handle of my own sword, Percy uncapped the pen and Riptide's blade sprang forward, growing to its full length. The celestial bronze glowed faintly even in the brightly-lit lobby.

Annabeth, realizing we weren't behind her anymore, had stopped and turned. Her eyes were wide with alarm. "What – " She cut herself off as she saw why we'd stopped, but then she motioned frantically to us with one hand. "Come on! Not in here!"

Kronos' minions were still closing on us. Percy looked like he wanted to stand his ground and fight, but Annabeth was right. This wasn't the place to make a stand. There were a lot of people in here, all going in different directions carrying books, backpacks, and boxes. Just as they started to notice what was going on, they began to slow like the others had, affected by Kronos' power as it spread toward us. The lobby, which had echoed with voices and motion just a few seconds before, was quickly falling silent.

I realized that if that power touched us, we'd be affected too. We'd be unable to move, which meant we'd also be unable to fight back. Kronos could pick us off at his leisure, or worse. Annabeth was right. We absolutely couldn't let that happen.

The Titan's power hadn't yet affected my rats. _Go! Cause as much trouble as you can, and then move on. You're free now,_ I told them, and waved my hand in the direction of the advancing telekhines. The last thing I saw before Percy grabbed my free hand and started pulling me toward the doors again was the group of ghost-rats moving swiftly to intercept the monsters behind us. I knew they couldn't do any damage, but they might be able to confuse the demons long enough to buy us a little more time. Time to do what, though, I didn't know.

Percy pulled me out the door and we followed Annabeth between more stone columns and down a flight of wide stone steps. The sounds of traffic and birds and people talking assaulted my ears as we burst outside – time hadn't stopped out here. Traffic was still in motion on the street right in front of us, and students were walking down the sidewalk with no idea of what was about to happen.

But all that would change as soon as Kronos gained enough ground. And all of these people could get hurt unless we could draw the fight away from them. Annabeth pointed across the street, to a large stone and glass building with the name "Stratton Student Center" carved above the doors. "There!"

But as she approached the edge of the sidewalk and the cross traffic on Massachusetts Avenue, Percy and I looked at each other an instant before we both turned to the left. "Water!" we exclaimed, almost in unison, and suddenly it seemed as if an understanding had passed between us. Before Annabeth could stop us, we took off as fast as we could toward the source. It wasn't until a few steps later that I realized I could tell where the water was as easily as Percy could – I was pretty sure _that_ was something new, but I didn't have time to analyze what that meant just at the moment. At least I hadn't started talking to horses. (The fact that we hadn't _met_ any horses recently notwithstanding.)

"Guys! What are you doing?" Annabeth called from behind us, but she abandoned crossing the street and ran after us, catching up easily. We raced beneath large, leafy trees with the stone-walled buildings of the school to our left and what looked like dorms on our right. We ran across another, less busy street, and there we were – right on top of the Charles River. On our left, Massachusetts Avenue spanned the river's breadth in a large, four-lane bridge. Sidewalks and railings edged the street on either side. The concrete at our feet was labeled with words that read, "364.4 SMOOTS + 1 EAR" in faded yellow paint.

We stopped on the corner, looking back to see that the telekhines had momentarily paused a block back at the crosswalk, trying to figure out where we'd gone. A minute later the two _dracaenae_ slithered out the doors and down the steps to meet them. None of the students seemed to notice anything out of the ordinary at all, and as the light changed the crosswalk signals began chirping and the monsters were momentarily lost in the crowd of people crossing the street.

"Where did you say you left Blackjack?" Percy asked, turning his head to direct the question at Annabeth. "Did you send him back to camp?"

"No," she said, her eyes still trained on the crosswalk, scanning for the monsters. "He said he'd wait nearby."

"Perfect. You're going back." Percy put his fingers to his mouth and whistled shrilly, the sound echoing off the buildings nearby. A moment later a black shadow came wheeling out of the sky and began to descend on our position.

Of course, the sound also gave away our position to the monsters. Just as the chirping ended and the light changed again, I saw Kronos' monsters push through the crowd and start in our direction. The two snake-women drew their bows.

Annabeth's eyes grew wide, and then Blackjack came to a landing, prancing on the sidewalk in front of us and narrowly missing a runner who'd made a wide half-circle around us on the sidewalk. The power of the Mist never ceased to amaze me – the guy didn't even notice that a pegasus had just landed nearly on top of him.

Percy motioned to Annabeth and cupped his hands to give her a boost onto Blackjack's back. "Wait," she said, as I watched the _dracaenae_ nock arrows in their bows as they slithered closer. "What about you?"

Percy was obviously the one with the plan here, and he had the best chance of convincing Annabeth to go along with whatever it was. I trusted him. So I took a few steps forward, raising my sword to defend us if it came to that. I was still feeling pretty unsteady from so much shadow travel, but the blade felt good in my hands and I knew I could – would – keep these monsters from reaching us if I had to. Kronos, on the other hand...

I realized there was no sign of the Titan lord, although he'd been only steps behind his monsters before. I tried not to worry about it as Percy said, "Look, just go! Go back to camp and tell them we're here. Tell them Kronos is here. Send me an Iris Message as soon as you get there."

The first snake-woman let loose her arrow, and it whistled past my ear, narrowly missing Blackjack behind us, who whinnied and stamped. (Thankfully, I couldn't understand any of that.) "Guys..." The monsters were less than half a block away and closing. I didn't like just standing here on guard while Percy and Annabeth argued. And I didn't think raising a wall of black stone in the middle of a Cambridge street was really a good idea unless we were extremely desperate. Which we might be, very shortly.

"We'll be fine," Percy said, and I glanced back to see him practically shoving Annabeth up onto the pegasus, though she didn't look like she wanted to go. "I can take care of Nico, and he's got some of my powers." He tilted his head very deliberately in the direction of the river, and I suddenly got an inkling of what he might be thinking.

And I realized that it just might work.

"We'll hold them off," Percy insisted resolutely. "Kronos is bound to stay here and look for us. We can bait him if we have to. If you can just bring back reinforcements in time..."

_Maybe we can stop him now,_ I thought. Maybe we could end this right here. _Before_ any prophesied decisions had to be made.

Annabeth must have realized it too. Her eyes went wide. "But what are you – " she started to ask, but mid-sentence Percy gave Blackjack's flank a slap and the pegasus bunched beneath her and leapt into the sky. The rest of her question was cut off as they launched upward with amazing speed.

The second _dracaena_ loosed her arrow at the retreating pair, but it fell short as Blackjack made a sharp turn and headed higher, speeding away from the city along the river's course.

Now the telekhines had caught up with the _dracaenae_, and as the snake-women pulled more arrows out of their quivers, Percy grabbed my hand and we turned to run a little further down the sidewalk as it stretched away from the bank and out over the river. We stopped at the square of sidewalk that read "100 SMOOTS" to check the monsters' progress. The snake-women had fallen back; now it was just the telekhines advancing down the sidewalk toward us. They all had huge grins on their faces, like they'd cornered us with nowhere to go. With the traffic speeding along the bridge right next to us and 264.4 smoots + 1 ear between us and the other bank, I had to admit that it felt a little bit like they were right. And there was still no sign of Kronos.

"Come on," Percy said calmly. He squeezed my hand and together we climbed over the railing and, much to the sudden surprise and panic of the people passing by on the sidewalk, we jumped together into the Charles River.

*

The Charles is three things: cold, dark, and nasty. I mean, I'd heard that it was less polluted than it used to be (and that you didn't need a tetanus shot if you fell in anymore), but it was still nasty. And we weren't even getting wet.

The silt on the bottom was more like black sludge, and there was garbage littered as far as the eye could see (which admittedly wasn't far). As we sank to the bottom, I landed on something small and plastic that went _crunch_ underneath my foot. It looked like it had once been a pair of sunglasses.

I looked over at Percy. He'd created some kind of bubble around my entire body, which was why I could breathe and it was keeping me dry. His eyes were closed; he looked like he was soaking up (possibly literally) the feeling of being underwater, but he also looked determined. After a few seconds he opened his eyes and looked at me. Then he pointed up.

There were five splashes overhead and sleek, dark shapes torpedoed toward us – the telekhines. They were sea demons, and while Percy was strongest underwater, so were they. The monsters swirled around us in a tightening circle, moving like seals as they swam. They were so dark against the water that they became like silent, streaking shadows. Each had a sword in its hand as they looped around us almost lazily, laughing to themselves in what sounded like something halfway between a dog's growl and a seal's bark.

Beside me, Percy had fallen into a defensive crouch, Riptide held before him in a two-handed grip. The blade shone against the dark water, illuminating a the area around us. I looked at my own sword, thinking that it looked almost like a dark mirror-copy of Percy's sword. The stygian iron blade seemed to suck up all of the light and life around it. Everything it took from the living world, it channeled into me and made me stronger.

But that was who I was, and I couldn't change it. I felt much better now – still not in top fighting form, but definitely majorly improved from the overbearing fatigue of a few minutes ago. I shuffled back along the river bottom towards Percy until we stood back to back against the ring of telekhines. I glanced over my shoulder and saw that he was grinning. _Finally_, his eyes seemed to say, _something I can fight._

And fight he did. Percy moved first, slashing one of the passing telekhines as it darted past us. The thing didn't even stand a chance – it yelped an instant before it exploded into dust, which hung in the water and swirled in the wake of the four remaining demons.

Following his lead, I brought my sword up in a wide arc just as I kicked off from the bottom, shooting up towards another telekhine. This one was ready for me – his blade met mine with an odd, deep ringing sound that traveled through my entire body the way sound does when you're underwater. But just because he'd met my strike didn't mean I couldn't take him – I kicked at his side and wormed out from underneath his blade, twisting back around and slicing him in two with my sword before he could parry. There was a second shower of dust, and I looked around for the next opponent.

Percy had trapped a third telekhine in a miniature underwater whirlpool – I could hear the thing yelping and I saw it clawing to escape. I'd never really seen Percy fight in his element before. When he'd rescued me from the Underworld we'd spent almost a full day underwater, riding on the backs of hippocampi. But that was completely different. He hadn't been fighting, hadn't been using his power for anything other than breathing. Now, seeing the way that he moved and the way the water rushed to do his bidding... I had to admit, it was pretty breathtaking. The way his sword flashed in the water, the way his movements were even _more_ fluid and beautiful than the telekhine's...

It was almost over too soon. A few well-placed sword strikes and Percy had dispatched his opponent. He turned to look at me; I was still staring at him. But then I saw his eyes go wide and his mouth started to open – instinctively I ducked, and not an instant too soon. A blade _whooshed_ through the spot my head had just been, leaving a small trail of bubbles that rose lazily toward the surface of the river. I rolled forward and jabbed with my sword; the point came up in the creature's belly and he only had time to register the shock on his face before he, too, exploded.

That left only one. When I looked back to Percy I saw that he was grappling with the last of Kronos' minions. For an instant I thought that maybe I should help, but this was Percy's fight, and I could tell he had it under control. He disarmed the creature almost effortlessly, but then he stopped with his sword's point resting at its throat.

"Tell Kronos we're not going to help him. None of us are. Tell him that if it's a fight he wants, it's a fight he'll get." Percy took a step forward, his foot landing squarely on the telekhine's blade as it lay on the bottom of the river. "Go back and tell him, and I'll let you live."

The creature whimpered like a puppy, and Percy lowered his sword. Immediately the telekhine shot towards the surface, disappearing as a dark blot against the ever-moving shadows created by the sun on the water. Then Percy turned, his eyes scanning the water for me as I let myself sink back down to the river bottom. His posture visibly relaxed as he saw me and he replaced the cap on Riptide, allowing his sword to shrink back into its camouflaged pen form. The light around us dimmed, but there was still just enough sunlight filtering down from the surface that I could see him pretty well.

Percy walked over to me, and suddenly I realized the bubble of air was expanding around me until it had grown to encompass Percy as well. We were now standing in a bubble of perfectly dry air that was probably ten feet across. The silt at our feet was still wet and squishy, but otherwise I never would have been able to tell that I was standing at the bottom of a river until I looked past the shimmering layer of air around us.

"Are you okay?" he asked, coming over and checking me for injuries. I did the same, glancing at his arms and legs, but he seemed fine and I was, too.

I nodded. "Yeah. No big deal." I slid my sword carefully though my beltloop, the blade a familiar weight against my leg that I was glad to have back. "That was amazing."

Percy blinked, obviously confused. "What?"

"You," I insisted, spreading my arms a bit. "Watching you fight. I dunno." I felt my face getting warm. "It was just... amazing."

Percy smiled a little at me, but shook his head. "Nothing special. You weren't so bad yourself, you know." He reached over, his fingers brushing my arm before he slid them down to twine with mine. He glanced up overhead, but there were no more sounds coming from the surface. Then he looked back to me. "And now we wait."

I nodded. "So that's the plan?" I'd figured it would be something like that – let Kronos know we were willing to fight, and then wait for reinforcements. We should be safe as long as we were underwater. I didn't know if he had any more telekhines working for him, but even if he did, we could take care of them. I wasn't worried about that.

Percy nodded. "Yeah. That's the plan."

--

[ **A/N:** Smoots (.org/wiki/Smoot) are basically a made-up unit of measurement. They're painted every 50 smoots or so (I think) along the Harvard Bridge, which is the one they were on~ ]


	12. Codetta: I Love You

[ **A/N:** This isn't _quite_ long enough to be a chapter; it doesn't fit with the next chapter though, and it's a bit stand-alone-ish. So I am going to label it a sort of codetta (since there is still more to come!) to this section and let it be its own thing. Regular numbering, etc., will pick up with the next chapter.

Although the rating will stay the same, this chapter is probably closer to R than PG-13. ]

**The Age of Heroes**

**Codetta: I Love You**

"Okay, so how hard is it for you to keep this bubble going?"

Percy glanced sideways at me, tilting his head quizzically. "What do you mean?"

"Well," I said, stepping a little closer, "like, do you have to think about it all the time? Or is it just something that you can do without really having to try?"

Percy's features began to register understanding, and he glanced at me slyly. "Why do you ask?"

"Because," I said, moving to slip both arms around his, "I think I've had a hard-on since you first kissed me in that cell, and I don't know how you deal with all of these hormones all the time but I don't think I'm doing it very well."

Percy laughed then, soft and low and I couldn't help it – I kissed him, hard and deep like he'd kissed me, and he returned it with just as much fervor.

But then he stopped, pushing me away a little. "What?" I asked, wondering what was wrong. We were actually alone and safe, at least for the moment. Maybe not _completely_ safe, but being alone at the bottom of a dark river with no one and nothing else around you but junk that's been tossed over bridges and out of boats counted enough for me. No more monsters had come after the first assault, and any others that did come could be taken care of as easily as the first. Now the plan actually called for us to sit and wait.

Well, I didn't intend to be bored doing it. We'd just won a battle, and adrenaline was still coursing through my body. My heart was pounding and my limbs were tingling and I really, really wanted Percy. Watching him fight like that underwater had only made me realize how amazing he could really be.

Part of me couldn't help but wonder if he was pushing me away now because of what had happened to me, but I didn't want to think about that so I squashed that part down and reached for Percy again. "Nico!" he laughed, swatting away my hands. "No! I know what you're thinking. No sex on the bottom of the Charles!"

"What?" I blinked. He didn't seem angry or uncomfortable, so what was it? Seriously, we hadn't been _alone_ alone since we'd gotten back from the Underworld. Despite the fact that I had more hormones coursing through me than I'd ever had before, this wasn't just about satisfying a momentary urge. I wanted Percy, and I wanted him to know that. "Why not?"

"Because it's gross down here!" he said, gesturing to the garbage all around us. "And just because I don't have to think too hard to keep this bubble going doesn't mean I can do it if I can't think straight at all!"

He was half-grinning and I knew he meant it playfully, but it still struck something with that horrible feeling of worry I'd been carrying with me ever since I'd woken up in a body that had been all wrong. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get rid of that feeling. Just because Percy didn't seem angry or awkward didn't mean he didn't feel that way inside. What if this really had ruined everything? We'd kissed, and it had seemed fine, but... What if I was overreacting – or, worse, what if I _wasn't_?

I sighed, sitting down in the silt and pulling my knees to my chest. "Well, I guess I understand. It really is kind of weird."

Percy glanced down at me, his brows knitting. "What is?"

I gestured to myself less than enthusiastically. "_This_. I mean... I dunno, I guess when you grow up normally you have time to get... used to stuff, right?" I shook my head, not really sure I wanted to talk about this, and definitely not sure I should make a big deal about it. But the words still came out. "It's just... I feel like a stranger in my own skin. I don't feel like I _belong_ in this body and everything feels the same but totally different all at the same time and I _hate_ it – "

"Nico," Percy slid down beside me, "you're still _you_. I know that as well as you do. The rest... well... I can't promise it'll be easy, but I'm sure you'll get used to it."

"I guess." I had to admit, I did feel less clumsy than I had the first few hours after I'd woken up like this. But there was still that cold pit of worry in my stomach, that feeling that said that maybe Percy didn't want what I was now. I didn't really know what he'd see or how he'd react when he finally saw me naked, with nothing to hide behind and in a body that I still wasn't sure was mine...

"Nico," Percy said again, a little more forcefully and I realized my mind had been wandering. He looped one hand around my waist and pulled me close, sliding the fingers of the other up and into my hair. "Nico, I don't care what you look like. I want you to know that. I liked you when you looked twelve and I'll like you when you look a _hundred_ and twelve." He paused, and even in the darkness I could see his cheeks turning red. I couldn't fault him – even after everything we'd been through and done for each other, it was still utterly strange to share your deepest feelings with someone else, even when you knew they felt them right back. I could feel my face getting warm in tandem with his.

"But I want you to know," Percy continued, and pulled me even closer so that our chests were flush and his lips were almost touching mine, "that you are absolutely _hot_ like this and I hate Medea for doing this to you but I can't say I'm not the tiniest bit grateful that I didn't have to wait four years to see you grow up."

"... Uh," was about the most intelligent thing I could come up with to say to that, and Percy chuckled again, deep in his throat and then he leaned in the rest of the way and kissed me. This time it wasn't hard but it was soft, slow, and it reminded me of that night maybe a week after his birthday when I'd first told him I wanted to have sex.

The day leading up to that night had been pretty awful – my father had appeared before us and it had shaken me more than I'd wanted to admit. He'd told me that Percy was going to betray me, that he was just like everyone else and that Hades and his kin would always be shunned and alone. I had spent the rest of that day thinking long and hard about it and I'd wanted to believe, desperately, that Percy wasn't like that. Percy was different – Percy wouldn't turn on me. Percy loved me.

I guess I hadn't quite been ready to think it quite in those terms yet, but nonetheless that was what I had wanted to believe. All my life the only kind of love I'd known had been Bianca's – I couldn't remember our mother and I didn't even know if she'd loved us in the first place. Bianca had loved me but she'd also left me, dying in the desert somewhere without me, never to come back. But Percy... I had just bared a large part of my soul in even admitting that I'd liked him, and he'd accepted me for it. He'd taken me in and let me sleep next to him and he'd touched me and kissed me, and that night I had needed him to go even further. I had needed him inside of me, like that would prove above all else that he was the one thing that belonged to me and I belonged to him and no one would ever change that.

That night when I'd asked him to have sex with me, his face had gone red and blank and for a minute I thought I'd messed everything up. It had been just like the time I'd told him I liked him – he'd been completely blindsided, but that was always when he was at his cutest. It was also when he was at his most frightening, because in those moments he'd held the power to break me and he probably hadn't even known it.

But I could see his mind working behind his eyes, and a few breaths later he'd said, _"I do too,"_ and I could tell that he'd meant it. He had wanted to be as close to me as I wanted to be to him, and he had proven that he was what I wanted him to be – he was mine. He wasn't like what my father or anyone else thought he was like. In fact, he wasn't like anyone else in the world. And he _wanted_ me.

Here, in the darkness and the cold at the bottom of the Charles River, I could see that again in his eyes. I could taste it as he kissed me. He'd meant every single word he'd just said – that he didn't care what I looked like, or who I looked like, so long as I was me and I was his. And I was.

_To Hades with "no sex on the bottom of the Charles",_ I thought, and I grasped his shoulders, leaning back and pulling him down on top of me. He followed, not breaking the kiss, like he didn't care about what he'd just said either – like he knew that I needed this as much as I had the first time. Except this time I might have needed it even more.

It was about as awkward as it had been the first time, too. I felt like I was in someone else's body, like Percy was touching me for the first time every time his fingers brushed against a patch of newly revealed skin. My legs and arms were suddenly too long and I wasn't sure where to put anything, but Percy just brushed my bangs aside and took the lead, pulling my arms and legs around him until we fit together as perfectly as we had before – maybe even better. It hurt, but I didn't care and I wouldn't let him stop until we'd both reached the edge and blown past it, falling together until we were just a tangled, tired heap underneath the river as it flowed over and around us.

It was then, afterwards, that I realized that Percy's air bubble had in fact vanished. We were no longer cocooned in air and the river was tickling right up against my skin. I didn't know when it had happened. I hadn't even noticed until just then. Somehow it just felt so _right_...

"Percy," I said quietly, not wanting to scare him – after all, there wasn't any cause for alarm. I wasn't drowning.

"Hm?" He lifted his head off of my chest enough to touch my face, grinning down at me as he propped his chin up on one arm.

"The bubble popped."

A second later he shot up off my chest, sitting astride my waist and staring at me with wide, frantic eyes. "Nico! I told you – I just – I..." He trailed off, as though he'd just realized that I wasn't drowning like I should have been. And then he stared at me again, but this time with less alarm and maybe more awe. "Nico?"

"I don't know," I conceded, raising my arms in a half-hearted shrug from beneath him before I placed them on either side of his waist. "I just... it's okay. I'm okay. I can breathe."

He touched my face with one hand, this time searching my features like he was looking to see if anything had changed. I didn't feel any different – still awkward and sore and tired – but I could take as many breaths as I wanted, as deeply as I needed, and never did my lungs fill with water.

"This is..." He trailed off, like he was looking for the right word. "Cool," he finally said, his mouth twisting into a wry sort of grin as he leaned closer, chest to chest. "I don't know if I should be feeling as excited as I do, but..."

I grinned right back up at him. "Maybe we should do it the other way around, see what happens then," I teased. After all, that must have been what had happened. The closer we got, the more we... well, did _this_, the more our powers intertwined.

He snorted. "What, so I can call up dead lab rats too? I guess that'd be useful..." He paused, touching my hair and my face again as he held my eyes with his. "Nico..." There was a moment of silence, where I could feel both of our hearts beating at the same time, just slightly out of synch but together and strong nonetheless.

Finally he spoke again. "There's no one else I ever wanted to share my powers with more," Percy said quietly, still looking at me. "Nico, I love you."

The words sent a small shock through my system, like a jolt of warm electricity. I slid my hands up his sides until they were around his back, sliding my right hand around and pressing my fingers to the white scar on his chest, directly over his heart. The scar he had gotten for me, when he'd paid the highest price any mortal could pay in order to bring me back from the dead.

I curled my fingers against his skin and swallowed around what felt like a lump in my throat. "I... I love you, too," I said, though it suddenly felt like the words alone would never be enough to tell him what I felt. I'd said them inside my head hundreds of times before, but I'd never told him out loud. Suddenly I wondered what had taken me so long. "Percy, I just... I love you too."


	13. Ch 11: Now Is the Time

**The Age of Heroes**

**Chapter 11: Now Is the Time**

We spent the rest of the day under the Charles River. As the sun set the surface had gone dark, with only intermittent patches of light filtering down as building and street lights reflected off the surface. I could see pretty well – not as well as Percy of course, whose eyes could adapt to see in any sort or water, light or dark. But I managed well enough. Besides, I didn't need to see to be able to feel him sitting next to me. He was a warm, comforting weight at my side even as the cool water of the river seemed to envelop me from everywhere else and tickle past my skin. We'd eventually gotten around to tugging our clothes back on (conveniently nothing got dirty when you did it underwater, it seemed) and just sat together, hands intertwined as we talked and gathered our strength. Even though we'd recently been drugged and unconscious for at least a day, it seemed like forever since either of us had slept for real. And so we alternately talked and drowsed until a sound broke the drifting silence of the river's current.

"Guys?"

The word was slightly muffled by the water but suddenly there, floating in front of us, was a patch of illuminated water showing the concerned faces of Annabeth and Chiron. I felt a profound sense of relief that I was sure Percy felt as well – she'd made it back to camp safe.

"Annabeth!" Percy exclaimed, sitting up a little straighter. He made no motion to drop my hand, however, and it wasn't like I was going to complain.

"Good, you're all right," Annabeth breathed, as Chiron squinted into the Iris message. I could tell he was looking at me – after all, why wouldn't he be? The last time he'd seen me, I'd been twelve. I was starting to get the feeling that I would be stared at a lot in the near future, if we made it out of this one alive (and I was planning to). Because it was looking a whole lot less likely that I was ever going to go back to the way I was. I might as well start getting used to the way things were _now_.

I cleared my throat a little, still feeling awkward and uncomfortable with the centaur's gaze fixed on me like that. "It's me," I said, glancing at Percy before I looked back at Chiron's concerned face. "Nico."

"He is," Percy confirmed, looking right at Chiron. "And he's exactly the same on the inside."

Chiron nodded after a moment, his expression softening a bit. "Annabeth told me what happened... I admit, I had no idea that Kronos had recruited Medea, or that she had found a way... Well, it's not important now. What has happened cannot be undone." He glanced between us before settling his gaze on Percy. "Now, what is your plan?"

And so Percy told him. "Kronos doesn't have an army here – not that we've seen, anyway. If we can take him on here, _now_... we might have a chance to end this," he finished, gesturing with his free hand earnestly.

"Hm." Chiron stroked his beard thoughtfully. "Your idea does have merit... but as we've seen, Kronos is powerful. He has allies in many places. He will still have a number of soldiers attending him, and he may have a proper army on the way, for all we know."

"But we _don't_ know – and neither does he!" Percy insisted. "We've got to take the chance we have now – we might not get another." He paused, looking at me before continuing in earnest; "Chiron... if Kronos really has brought about the prophecy earlier than it was meant to be, this might be _it_. Nico is on _our side_." He squeezed my fingers. "If that's all we need..."

Chiron turned to look at me, his mouth set in a grim line. "I don't know," he said. "I don't know whether or not the prophecy will be fulfilled, now that Nico is sixteen." He sighed. "But I do know that you're right, Percy. Kronos is not yet at full power, and the gods are, unfortunately, not yet ready for war themselves. It may very well be up to us, _now_, as you say. I don't like it, but I cannot ignore the possibility that you are right."

Percy grinned, squeezing my hand again, and I couldn't help but grin back. You'd think we wouldn't really be all that excited about going into battle, but this was different. This could be the last time, _ever_...

"So what do we do?" Annabeth asked, bringing our attention back to her. "A lot of campers have gone home for the school year... but I can rally everyone we have and bring them to Boston. We have the pegasi..."

"And Mrs. O'Leary," I put in, as both Annabeth and Chiron turned back to me. After all, she was a hellhound – a creature of the Underworld. And she was still at camp. "She can shadow travel just like I can. It'll make her tired, but she can carry at least a few people. You just need to tell her where to go."

Annabeth nodded. "Okay." Then she bit her lip. "So where _are_ we going to go?"

Percy frowned, thinking; I racked my brain, trying to think of where we could make our stand. Not back at MIT – there were too many innocent people there. In fact, there were a lot of innocent people in the city, period. There weren't a lot of obvious places...

"I've got it!" Annabeth suddenly said, her grey eyes lighting up. "Bunker Hill! Well," she made a face, "I guess it's technically Breed's Hill, but we'll be able to spot the monument from the air..."

Percy and I glanced at each other questioningly, but Chiron was nodding. "Yes... yes, I believe Annabeth is right. That will be a good place for a stand. You'll have the high ground, and the monument is easily recognizable."

"Can you guys get there by, say, tomorrow morning?" Annabeth asked, ticking the hours off on her fingers. "We'll meet at the Bunker Hill Monument. I think I can get everyone mobilized within a few hours. We could be there by dawn."

Percy and I nodded. I didn't know much about Boston, but I had heard of Bunker Hill in history class at Westover. I vaguely remembered where it was. "It's near the shipyards and the harbor, right?" That was good, actually – the closer to water we were, the more powerful Percy would be.

Annabeth nodded. "Right. It's on the Freedom Trail. You guys should be able to find it pretty easily." It figured – she was so into architecture, she'd know where all the famous monuments were.

"Okay," Percy said, and his voice was steady with resolve. "We'll be there by dawn to meet you. In the meantime, we'll find some way to lure Kronos there when we're ready for him."

On the other end, Chiron and Annabeth nodded. "Okay. Be careful, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth said, grinning at Percy before she glanced at me. "And you too, Dead Boy."

"Uh," I said, glancing at Percy, who was snickering. He'd started calling me that – only once or twice, really – but apparently Annabeth had picked it up. "Yeah," I said, smiling despite myself, "We will."

"Wise Girl," Percy added. Annabeth's smile turned softer, and she nodded.

"May the gods be with you," Chiron said, and Annabeth reached out and swiped her hand through the message, dispersing the picture. It dissolved into little granules of light, which then fizzled away in the current and Percy and I were left in the dark on the bottom of the river once more.

*

We talked about possible ways to lure Kronos to us for over an hour and finally decided that when the time came, we'd send a messenger on Mrs. O'Leary. I knew she'd be tired from shadow traveling all the way here, but I figured if I lent her my powers she'd be okay for one more round trip. We could bolster each other's strength enough to make it to Kronos' lair (or chem lab or wherever he was hiding in the basements of MIT) and get him to follow us to Bunker Hill. I'd seen the room before, so I could find it again. It wouldn't be like I was going in blind, which would probably be nearly impossible.

Then we'd argued for almost an hour after that about whether I should go alone or not, but in the end I won simply by insisting that carrying Percy along for the ride would only tire me out more and I needed to be in fighting condition if when I came back from my little jaunt. Even with Mrs. O'Leary's help, I didn't think taking Percy along would exactly be a piece of cake, if our past exploits had proven anything. It was a risk we just couldn't afford to take, even if he wanted to come with.

"Yeah, well, what if we... " Percy finally murmured, sliding his hands over my shoulders and down my back as he leaned in close, shifting against me suggestively. His lips almost touched my ear and his voice dropped as he added, "Maybe I'll pick up your handy little traveling trick."

"_Percy_," I groaned, definitely wanting what he was offering but not willing to concede the argument, "we don't know what you'd pick up. For all we know," I teased, slipping my own hands under his shirt nonetheless, "you'd just be able to start your very own dead lab rat circus."

In the end, he conceded my point – but not before we'd given his "idea" a try. Just to be sure. Or, really, just because – because we were alone and together and neither of us wanted to admit it, but we were scared. I knew I was. And I could feel that he was, too, in the way he kissed me and grabbed me close and held on like he was desperate, dying. I can't say I didn't reach for him the exact same way. It was still awkward, and I still felt strange and stretched and shy, but the need to be close overcame everything until Percy had driven all the thoughts from my mind.

When it was over Percy just lay there for a moment, breathing. I collapsed next to him, rolling up to his side so we could share body heat and slinging an arm across his chest. This probably wasn't how we were supposed to be spending the night before a battle, but I honestly didn't care. Part of me thought, _If this is the last night I have, I wouldn't want to spend it any other way_.

"Do you feel any different?" I asked, mumbling the words into Percy's neck.

He shook his head. "Not really. How do you do it? So I can try."

I frowned a little, thinking of how to put it into words. I mostly did it by feel – well, maybe that was why it hadn't always worked at first, but it was more instinctual than anything else. It was hard to explain. "You just... think of a place you want to be and let the darkness take you there." I managed to push myself up onto one arm a little so I could look down at him. "Be careful – don't try to go far. Maybe just a few feet away." The river was dark now, with shadows everywhere – it should be easy enough. "Like I said, it's not exactly easy at first – if you get lost..." I didn't want to even consider that. But he was older than I'd been when I first tried it, so...

Percy nodded; a moment later his features screwed up in concentration, but nothing happened. After about thirty seconds of trying, he let out a breath and shook his head. "Nope. Nothing."

I brushed one hand along his side and lowered my head to his shoulder again. "Well, I guess it was worth a try."

Beneath me, he chuckled. "You probably knew it wouldn't work. You probably just wanted to screw me."

"Well," I murmured, unable to keep from chuckling myself, "you offered."

Percy snorted, but he admitted, "I guess I did." One arm came around my back, resting across my shoulderblades. "And I would do it all over again. A lot."

"Mm," I hummed, thinking that despite everything that had happened, I might never have been more content.

"And now I probably _could_ raise rats from the dead," he added cheerfully.

"Not raise them," I pointed out, "just call on their ghosts. Or you could re-animate them. That's different. And," I added, glancing up at him, "it's not just rats, you know. All sorts of animals... people..."

Percy shuffled himself up onto his elbows beneath me, looking down at me in surprise. "People? You can re-animate people?"

I shrugged. "I don't like doing it," I pointed out – after all, even _I'd_ seen zombie movies. And some of them had gotten it right – dead corpses with the flesh rotting and hanging off of them... it wasn't pretty. It wasn't how people should be remembered, and it wasn't something they should be forced to do, after they'd been laid to rest. Bringing the ghosts of long-dead rats back was one thing, but actually re-animating human corpses...

Maybe there really was something to burning the dead, after all.

"Hm," Percy hummed, and we just lay there a while more. We struggled back into our clothes again eventually, but even after that there wasn't much left to do but wait.

Percy heard it first; neither of us was properly asleep, but we were trying to get some rest nonetheless. Even if we didn't want to sleep, we knew better than to go into battle exhausted – especially not a battle like this one. Even if it was twenty demigods against Kronos, the Titan was powerful even though he wasn't yet at full strength. Power over time was a bitch to go up against.

Percy stiffened beside me. "Do you hear that?" I could hear the frown in his voice even though it was hard to see his face.

I blinked, pushing myself off his shoulder and glancing around. I didn't hear anything except for the soft movements of the river's current and Percy breathing beside me. "No," I said, quietly. But that didn't mean there wasn't something out there – this was Percy's domain, and if he said he heard something... well then he was right.

We didn't have to wait long to find out. The water around us grew cold – colder than it had been, and as Percy and I pushed ourselves to our feet and drew our weapons, he appeared.

_He_ was a ten foot tall, greenish-skinned man with flowing seaweed-colored hair and beard. He was wearing what looked like traditional Ancient Greek clothing – a tunic and sandals – and even though he didn't have any weapons, I could sense that he was dangerous. I tightened my grip on my sword as he spoke.

"Ah-hah!" he cried triumphantly as he loomed over us, the cold current seeming to swirl off of him and around us. "I've found the little demigod runaways!"

Beside me, Percy frowned. Riptide was full-grown and glowing softly in his hands. "Who are you?"

The man snorted. "That's just like you – you're the son of that cursed god Poseidon, aren't you?" He didn't actually wait for Percy to go on before he said, "I am Cephissus!"

I frowned, racking my brain for the name. Had I ever heard it before? It didn't sound too familiar...

Apparently Percy hadn't, either. "Are we supposed to know you?" he asked, his voice cocky, the way it got when he was outmatched but ready to fight. I had to admit, I liked it. Even when faced with an unknown danger, Percy was determined not to show his fear.

"Your _father_nearly destroyed me!" the man before us raged, waving one fist menacingly. "He couldn't deal with the fact that we rivers had judged Hera to be more deserving of Argos! He simply waved his hand and dried us up! Only after a good rain is my river even able to flow!"

"Uh... right," Percy muttered; he didn't sound very sympathetic. I didn't blame him. How, exactly, was that Percy's fault?

Cephissus, however, obviously thought it was. "Is that all you have to say for yourself?" the man roared. He looked down his nose at us. "Well, we shall see who has the last laugh, when my master finds out I have located you!"

I glanced at Percy to find him looking at me, and even though his face didn't show it, his eyes were worried. And so was I. There was only one "master" this guy could be talking about.

"Are you sure you really want to be on Kronos' side?" I asked, not sure if I was really trying to change his mind or just stall for time. After all, Kronos would have to get us out of the river if he wanted to face us – but with a river god on his side, that suddenly seemed like a much better possibility than it had before. But we didn't want a confrontation with the Titan here, and definitely not now. It was too early. Dawn was still an hour or two away.

But Cephissus didn't seem like he wanted to consider alternative lifestyle choices. "Yes! I have been wronged by the gods, and I will have my revenge! My master has promised me this!"

Right, so the river god was pissed at Poseidon, and naturally he'd joined Kronos. I was really beginning to wish that the Titan lord wasn't so good at building on others' existing grudges to bring them over to his side. His army might be a lot smaller...

Then again, I thought with a sinking feeling in my gut, wasn't that exactly what he'd tried to do to me? And hadn't that very plan nearly worked? I suddenly remembered Bianca, telling me not to hold grudges. She'd said that it was the fatal flaw of Hades' children. My gut went cold as I wondered, _what if I hadn't listened to her?_ What if I hadn't fallen in love with Percy? And despite that, what if I'd listened to Kronos when he offered me all that power, and the chance to help him rule his new world?

But now was no time to think about that. There was an angry river god who hated Percy's dad bearing down on us, and the river was growing colder by the minute. Percy and I exchanged another look – one that said, _If he doesn't get back to Kronos, he can't tell him where we are._ Almost in unison, we began to separate, inching around the river god so we could flank him from either side.

But before either of us could actually get into position to attack, Cephissus clapped his hands. The sound was like thunder underwater, and it felt like a million cymbals were being crashed inside my head. The trick had worked on Percy, too – when I finally cracked my eyes open, I could see that he looked just as disoriented as I felt.

Worse than that, Cephissus was gone. But through the murky water I could see shapes approaching us, torpedo-like and fast...

"Telekhines!" Percy exclaimed, and we inched back together, watching them approach. I tried to count the shapes in the water, but it only made my stomach drop through the river's bottom.

There were a _lot_ of telekhines.

I didn't like the idea of retreat, but I knew when the odds were stacked against us. And I realized that right now was not the time for heroics – not yet. "Percy... we've got to get out of here," I muttered to him.

"Yeah? Well, what do you suggest?" he muttered back, his shoulder pressed against mine, Riptide raised before him.

My mind raced frantically. We had to get out of there, but where could we go? And what about the plan?

Then it hit me – we still had a chance to make this plan work. "We lead them," I said, taking one hand off the hilt of my sword to grasp Percy's elbow.

Percy glanced at me, his features confused for just a second before his eyes registered recognition. He understood. "Cephissus said he was going to tell Kronos where we were. The telekhines must be here to stall us," he said, even as we backed up a few paces and tried to put some distance between us and the oncoming force of sea demons.

I nodded. "The plan was to get Kronos to come to Bunker Hill – well, let's lead him there _now_." I honestly didn't know how far it was, or how long it would take to get there. I didn't know how many telekhines there were, or if there were more on the way. I didn't even know if Annabeth and the others would be waiting for us when we got there. But I _did_ know that it was our best chance. If we could get the telekhines to follow us, then ideally they'd find some way to contact Kronos and tell him where we were going. The plan could still work.

Percy was grinning now, even as the shapes began to resolve into individual monsters, all bearing down on us. They couldn't be more than ten yards away when Percy nodded, and together we turned, ready to kick off from the bottom. "Okay," Percy said, taking my hand, "Let's do it."


	14. Ch 12: The Chase

**The Age of Heroes**

**Chapter 12: The Chase**

Leading the telekhines was easy – at least, so long as we were underwater. Since Percy pretty much had the equivalent of a GPS-for-brains while we were in the water, he took off immediately to the west, following the river basin as it turned north. I don't know how he did it, but the current suddenly shifted in our favor – but _only_ around us. Behind us, the telekhines seemed to be struggling in a current that was trying to push them the opposite way.

We passed under a second bridge way ahead of the telekhines, only to realize that the river ahead of us was dammed. I was starting to worry that we'd have to get out of the river and find some way over the dam when Percy pointed – the lock connecting the basin to the rest of the river was wide open. We could pass right through it unhindered. As we did, I realized it would be the perfect spot to thin out the pack of our pursuers.

"Hang on," I said, as soon as we were through to the other side. I twisted around underwater so that I could see the telekhines behind us, and with a thought and a gesture I raised a wall of black rock from the silt in front of the lock. I have to say, it was a lot easier than it used to be. The rock formation wasn't high enough to block the way entirely, but it left only enough room for one or two telekhines to get through at a time.

Turning, I saw that Percy was grinning at me. "Good idea." Now the telekhines could follow us, but they would be less of a threat than they had been even if they did catch up. I just nodded and we kept going. Behind us, I could hear scraping as the telekhines bottlenecked, clawing at the rock suddenly blocking their way. But when I glanced back, I saw that they had thinned out just liked I'd hoped. We passed under what looked like the supports for railroad tracks, and after that another few bridges that looked like they probably supported highways.

Then we ran into a problem – the _new_ Charles River Dam. This time there were three locks, and they were all closed.

"Great," Percy muttered, as we hung there suspended and stared at the closed locks. But there was something more than just sarcasm in his voice. I could hear frustration behind his words, and something almost like longing. There was this odd look in his eyes, too – a sort of strained look. When I frowned, he seemed to catch on that I'd noticed. "Salt water," he said, with a wry smile. He cocked his head. "It's just on the other side of the dam. I can feel it."

I guessed that made sense – water in general was Percy's thing, but his father _was_ the god of the sea. Salt water was like Percy's own personal nectar. I didn't blame him for getting that look, especially if it was just out of reach. It was too bad, really. It probably would've done him a world of good. I couldn't begrudge him wanting a little pick-me up. He'd been propelling us most of the way here on a demigod-made current.

I reached out and squeezed his hand as he glanced behind us. Even though they weren't in a coherent pack anymore, the telekhines were definitely still back there. Percy glanced at me, and then he said out loud what we were both already thinking: "Looks like this is the end of the line. Time to get out."

I nodded. We made our way over to the shore and clambered out (completely dry – I wasn't sure I'd ever get used to that) near what looked like a relatively new park. Across the oval of grass neatly lined with trees was the only road I could see leading out, following the river east.

We raced across the damp grass towards the Charlestown bridge. Behind us, I could hear the telekhines climbing out of the water to continue their pursuit. Percy and I finally reached the road, the pavement hard and jarring under our feet after the silt of the river's bottom and the spongy grass of the park, but we just kept going without looking back. I knew the Bunker Hill Monument was still north of here – I could just see the lights lining the shipyards in the dark ahead of us as they traced the northern edge of the remaining Charles River basin before it opened up into the Boston Harbor proper.

We followed the road under the Charlestown Bridge. Behind us, the supports of a very new-looking cable-stayed bridge glowed an eerie white-and-blue. There was almost no traffic and no birds were singing yet, but I hoped that dawn was approaching – it was still dark, but the sky had taken on that bluish-black hue that meant that sunrise was less than an hour away. But even less than an hour was too long – at this rate we'd reach the Bunker Hill Monument way before our reinforcements would. We'd have to deal with our current company on our own.

But right now there wasn't any time to worry about how we were going to do it. I could hear the telekhines behind us and they were gaining fast. For being sea demons, they could cover an awful lot of land just as fast, if not faster, than two teenage boys. We'd only been leading them for maybe a third of a mile, but they were a lot closer than they had been underwater without Percy's current pushing us forward and the telekhines away.

As we pounded down the street, I looked down and realized there was a line of red bricks running along the road, coming down from the bridge. As we ran past the corner of Adams Street a minute later, the red bricks veered off to the left.

There was something about those bricks... I stopped almost dead. "Percy!" I called – he skidded to a stop a few paces ahead of me and turned as I pointed up Adams Street. "It's this way – " I scuffed one boot along the line of red bricks. "This is the Freedom Trail."

Percy's eyes flicked behind me – to the telekhines advancing on us, no doubt – and then he nodded once. We took off up Adams Street, following the line of red bricks. Sure enough, another minute down the road I could see the granite obelisk of what had to be the Bunker Hill Monument rising above the rooftops as the ground started sloping up. With our goal in sight, we put on a last burst of speed. I'd never run a mile test in school, but I figured by now I'd probably be getting an A. There was nothing like a pack of telekhines gaining on you from behind for motivation. Even if you were running uphill.

We didn't _quite_ make it before the first monster reached us. As we ran the last couple of yards toward the stone steps leading up the hill, I heard something behind me and Percy glanced back just in time to yelp out a warning. I ducked and rolled, and not an instant too soon as a telekhine's blade came crashing down against the pavement where I'd been only seconds before.

As I stumbled back to my feet, fumbling for my sword, Percy tackled the monster with Riptide. He cleaved the sea demon in two, leaving only a pile of dust to scatter on the wind by the time the stroke was complete.

"Thanks," I breathed, but Percy just nodded grimly and grabbed me by the hand. We ran up the steps and past the brown sign that read "Boston National Memorial Park, Bunker Hill". Another telekhine bounded after us, but I saw him coming this time and kicked him back down the steps, momentarily thankful that my legs were considerably longer – and stronger – than they had been. The monster went thudding down the steps, yelping the whole way, and bowled over the telekhine just behind him, sending the two tumbling to a stop a few feet away in a groaning, whining pile.

But they were only the first of many. The rest of the pack had advanced up the street and now they were regrouping before they came up the steps after us. It wasn't a very encouraging sight – two winded half-bloods, nearly doubled over and panting, against a pack of only slightly out-of-breath sea demons with sharp black eyes and vicious, pointed snouts. From here I could count seven of them, plus the two that had fallen at the bottom of the steps. That made nine, and that was a _lot_.

"Nico," Percy breathed beside me, hunched low with Riptide held out before him, "I can feel something."

I glanced at him, but it took only an instant for me to realize what he was talking about. When you're the son of Hades, you can feel death like it's palpable, something almost solid. I'd honestly learned to tune it out most of the time, because if I didn't it would simply overload my senses. But Percy was right – here, where we were standing, the feel of death was stronger than it had been anywhere else in the city; at least, any of it that we'd seen thus far.

A lot of people had died here – and I mean a _lot_. It was a former battleground, after all, and the spirits of those soldiers who'd died had become intertwined with the land until the whole hill was infused with the spirits of the dead and the fallen. All I had to do was reach, just a little, and suddenly I could feel the soul of each and every soldier who had died here, like there was an invisible thread reaching down into the Underworld and connecting them to this spot.

It was kind of a rush; the feeling was heady and powerful, and for a minute my vision blurred. Percy couldn't have felt like this – but he must have been able to sense the tail end of it because of the way our powers mixed.

The dead weren't buried here, so there were no bodies that I could call to our aid. But I _could_ call upon their spirits, just like I had with the lab rats. And what was more, if Percy could feel it – if what we'd joked about under the river was right – then he might be able to help me. And while an army of ghosts wouldn't do much to actually hurt our opponents, _they_ didn't need to know that. Even if they figured it out, the ghosts would at least be awfully distracting. Distracted telekhines were a lot easier to fight.

"Okay," I said quietly, adjusting my grip on my sword as I moved closer to Percy, "I think you can help me out this time. You can feel the barrier, right?" The barrier between life and death was everywhere, spread across all of civilization like a thick, downy blanket. But here, where there had been such a bloody battle, that blanket was worn and threadbare. And for those of us with powers like mine, it was simple to reach between the blanket and pull.

Percy nodded. "I think so."

"We can bring back the ghosts of the soldiers who died here," I told him. "They won't be able to fight the telekhines for us, but it'll be a great distraction. Like the rats," I grinned over at him, "only better."

Percy returned my grin, but his eyes flicked over to the pack of telekhines who'd begun making their way up the stairs, chattering like seals as they hefted their swords. We didn't have much time. They were sick of chasing us – they wanted a fight. And I was willing to give them one.

"On three, I want you to... to pull," I told Percy – again, it was hard to put the feeling into words, but I figured he'd get the idea. Working with water was probably just as instinctual; I'd learned that when I'd learned the trick to keep dry underwater. "Just try to reach out to the spirits you can feel and bring them here. Anything you can do to help..."

Percy got the idea. I'd be doing most of the work, but anything he could do would make things easier on me. And that meant I'd have more energy to fight. "Got it."

"Okay." We separated again, inching apart so that the telekhines would have to split up. "One... two... _three_!"

It seemed like the signal had been all the telekhines were waiting for as well. As I planted my feet and reached with my mind past my body and into the earth below us, the telekhines launched their attack. Half of my mind was on defending my body, but I'd drilled so many times that half was all I needed. My sword came up to block the first blow, even as I felt my silent entreaties reach the Underworld. I could feel the effort draining energy out of me like an open wound, and as soon as I knew it had worked I tried to pull myself back together and fight in earnest. As my awareness settled back into my body, I noticed that my arms and legs felt heavy and slow. But everything was still responding and I hadn't taken any hits yet

It would take a minute or two for the spirits I'd called to find their way back here – unlike the rats, these people had been dead two hundred years. That meant their connection with the earth had faded, but not so much that I couldn't reawaken it within them. In the meantime, Percy and I were still stuck on a hilltop with angry sea demons who wanted to kill us. Not exactly a fun time, let me tell you.

As I fought off three of the telekhines, twisting and blocking and trying to get into a position to hit any one of them, Percy was doing the same off to my right. I didn't know if he'd been able to reach any of the spirits like I had, but all of his focus was now on the battle in front of him. He had four telekhines to deal with, but even as I counted the last one it yelped and disappeared into a cloud of dust on the blade of his sword.

Percy was a good fighter – one of the best I'd ever seen. Despite the confidence I could see in his eyes, I was still worried about him. But I had my own problems to deal with, as I put all of my concentration into slashing at the telekhines bunching around me, trying not to let them get a hit on me.

But blocking from three directions at once is pretty much impossible. I'd suffered at least two decent hits – nothing serious, but definitely some deep, stinging scratches – when one of the telekhines in front of me yelped even though I hadn't hit it. Then I realized that it wasn't concerned with me – it was looking past me, over my shoulder.

I realized that it was starting to happen. The ghostly outlines of men had begun rise from the ground and were drifting forward around us. There were at least fifty ghosts, and more were materializing out of the ground every second. Most of them looked like British Redcoats, and a lot of them looked like officers. Even though they were ghosts, they looked like they had at the moment of death – a lot of them had bloody wounds to attest to the blows that had killed them.

But regardless of who they were and what they looked like, they were frightening and confusing the telekhines just like I'd planned. Two of the demons fighting Percy turned to face the ghosts advancing from all directions, which was their mistake because all it took was one wide swipe of Riptide and there were two less telekhines on Bunker Hill.

The monster that had yelped in front of me was now turning in a circle, confused. I struck him deep in the side with my sword and he went rigid and exploded into a shower of dust just as he tried to raise his sword against one of the ghostly soldiers. The two remaining monsters around me didn't seem to know which was the bigger threat – the half-blood with the sword or the approaching gaggle of Revolutionary War spirits. They spun back and forth, chattering agitatedly in their half-dog, half-seal voices, until the ghosts had pressed them so close to me that destroying them became almost easy. Two sword-strokes later, I was standing alone in a ring of ghostly men who were all looking at me curiously, as though they could sense I'd brought them here but they couldn't figure out why.

But the last telekhine fighting Percy seemed to have realized that the ghosts couldn't do him any harm. He'd turned his back on them and had gone back to fighting Percy, driving him back towards the center of the hill. I cringed as I saw him take a hit to his right arm, where his shield would have been if he'd had one. But the wound only seemed to ignite a new fire in him and, with sword strokes so fast I swear the blade almost blurred, Percy destroyed the last of his attackers, sending the dust scattering away on the wind amongst a hundred or more wounded, long-dead men.

Slumping and breathing hard, Percy looked over at me through the sea of ghosts. I looked back at him, and together we turned our attention back to the steps, where the last two telekhines – the ones that had gone tumbling down the steps before the rest of the pack had caught up – had stayed back nursing their bruises. They were still there, staring up with wide eyes at the hill where Percy and I stood with our legion of British and Colonial ghost-soldiers.

After a long minute, during which the only thing that filled the silence was the whispers of the dead men, the two remaining telekhines turned around and scampered away down the street.

I sagged to the ground as the adrenaline rush of the fight started to fade, trying to make it look like I had wanted to sit down. Percy lumbered over to me, the ghostly soldiers parting for him as he crossed the hill. I glanced up at them – at all the faces of the dead men who'd lost their lives fighting for this hill, and let out a breath, releasing them from our service. _You've done what we needed. Thank you. Go back. Be at peace._

The figures started to fade just as Percy slid down to the ground beside me, shoulder to shoulder. "Well," Percy said tiredly, "give those telekhines fifteen minutes to get back, and Kronos will know where we are." He was favoring the arm that had been slashed, and I stretched my legs out in front of me, watching the cut on my left thigh bleed sluggishly. It was already starting to scab over. Percy pressed his hand to it, glancing up at me as if to ask if I was all right.

"I'm okay," I said, glancing at his arm. He followed my gaze and nodded, telling me he was okay too.

But okay wasn't the same thing as being ready to face a Titan lord. I leaned against Percy, trying to clear my mind from this battle so that I could think about how we were going to make it through the next one. Ghosts weren't going to cut it against Kronos, and I knew it.

I looked up to see the Monument's obelisk rising from the center of the hill before us. It had to be at least 200 feet high. At the base was a statue whose name was inscribed on a plaque that I couldn't be bothered to read from here, and on the opposite side of the hill was an exhibit lodge, built to model Greek architecture (well, at least as far as I could tell). I figured if Annabeth were here, she'd have a whole lecture ready on how the Monument and the lodge were built.

But Annabeth _wasn't_ here – and dawn wasn't even close to breaking yet. For the first time, I realized just how bad the situation was. Sure, we'd had a plan, but I wasn't sure that plan even applied anymore. After all, we'd planned on having our forces assembled here and ready to fight before we even thought about giving Kronos the heads-up on where we were.

But now all of that had changed. First there was Cephissus, and now the two telekhines that had escaped. Percy was right – in a matter of minutes Kronos would know where we were, and there was a very real chance that he would get to us before our reinforcements did. Percy and I weren't in the greatest shape, mostly because we also hadn't planned on having to run all the way to Bunker Hill and fight off a pack of telekhines once we got here. Things had changed a lot, and suddenly I didn't feel so great about anything.

"Percy... we might have to do this on our own," I said, not daring to look at him.

Beside me, Percy took a breath and said, "Yeah. I know." He shifted around, moving so that he was leaning over me and I had to look at him. "Are you still up for this?"

I didn't know what the alternative was. Could we keep running? Who was to say Kronos wouldn't find us again, and I definitely didn't want to leave when Annabeth might come like we'd asked, only to be met by an ambush at the hands of Kronos. I wasn't going to let that happen, not to her or any of the half-bloods she'd be bringing with her.

"I have to be," I said, looking at Percy's eyes as they flickered over my face. "You are." I could see it in his eyes – he wasn't going to leave. And if he wasn't, then neither was I.

He smiled at me, but it was a grim smile as he settled back against my side, resting. There was no point in standing when there wasn't anything to face just yet. "Yeah, I am. With or without reinforcements."

I nodded slowly. "With or without – wait. _Wait_." I stood abruptly, nearly causing Percy to fall over before he caught himself and pushed himself up off the ground, staring at me.

"Nico...?"

"Wait," I said, holding up one hand. I took a breath, trying to clear my mind, closing my eyes briefly before I opened them again, looking out at the view from the top of Bunker Hill. To the east, I could see out over the shipyards and into the Boston Harbor. Across the river basin was the city itself, visible behind the white and blue cable bridge and what had to be a sports stadium with a huge Boston Bruins logo on the side lit up with spotlights. The city itself just looked like a tiny cluster of skyscrapers inside a larger group of medium-sized brick buildings, with the gold dome of the Massachusetts State House nestled among them. At the top of the tallest building, a lone blue light flashed steadily. I wondered if it meant anything important. The Charles River seemed to slash through the city like a ribbon of pure black, a wide swath where there were no lights. On the far side of the river, back past the bridges we'd swum under, I could see a red, white, and blue neon CITGO sign flashing in the night, the light reflecting off the black surface of the river.

But right across from us, just across the black expanse, was what I was looking for. Now that I knew what I wanted, I could feel it with all the certainty of the fact that my feet were still planted on the ground. "Percy," I said, finally turning to look back at him, "I have an idea."

He watched me for a minute, chewing on his bottom lip. "Why do I get the feeling that I'm not really going to like this idea?"

I sighed. "Because you might not. But it's our best chance." Percy simply stood there and waited for me to go on, so I did. "Remember how I told you I can re-animate bodies as well as spirits?" He nodded. "Well, there are a whole lot of them in Boston. I can feel it – there are at least three graveyards only a couple of miles away." I pointed across the river to where my gut was pulling like a compass needle.

There, in the middle of the city, were graveyards filled with bodies. Thousands of them. They were old bodies, with old spirits – some older than those that had come to our aid on the battlefield. But at least some of them wouldn't be completely decomposed. And I could bring them all here.

"Wait," Percy said, finally picking up on my train of thought. "You want to bring all of those corpses _here_? To fight for _us_?"

I nodded. "Look – right now, it's just you and me against whoever Kronos has with him. We don't even know how many people – or monsters – that could be. What if he really does have an army? You said he didn't know what kind of forces we had, but we don't know what _he_ has, either. And right now we don't have _any_ forces. I don't know if Annabeth is going to get here in time, and neither do you." I paused, looking at him. "Kronos will be on his way soon, if he's not already. This might be our only chance. He's not going to be afraid of ghosts, like the telekhines were."

Percy frowned. He was quiet for a long moment. "So let me get this straight. You want to raise a zombie army to march across Boston and help us hold Bunker Hill?" He'd actually started to crack an incredulous smile, and I couldn't help but return it

I nodded. "Yeah, that's pretty much it." It sounded ridiculous, but it could work. _It could work._

And Percy realized it, too. His grin grew wider, before he finally said, "Well, I always did like zombie movies."

I let out a breath, grinning back. But then he raised a hand to my arm. "Are you gonna be okay if you do that? I get the feeling you're talking about raising a lot of dead bodies, here. And you just did the thing with the ghosts... Nico," he said quietly, shifting to move his hand to my face, "Don't overdo it. You're already hurt – we both are. And I don't think I can help you with this. If you put yourself out of commission, I don't... I don't know..."

He didn't finish his sentence, but he didn't have to. I knew what he was going to say. _I don't know if I can fight and protect you from Kronos at the same time._

"You won't have to," I promised, looking him in the eyes. I wasn't as sure as I sounded, but that didn't matter. I was determined not to go out before I'd even gotten a chance at Kronos. Besides, what good was being a sixteen year-old half-blood if I couldn't put it to good use? I would have the power to do this. I had to. "I'll be okay."

He didn't look convinced. "Define 'okay'."

I tried not to grimace. I'd raised single bodies before, even a handful at the same time once or twice. But never thousands. "I'll be tired. Probably pretty sick for a few minutes. But," I went on, before he could get any protests in, "I think I'll have enough time to recover before Kronos gets here. If," I said, "I do it now."

Percy's grin faded, his mouth returning to a grim, worried line. "Now," he echoed, and he looked up at the sky, where the east was bluer than the west, but there was still no sign of the sun. Dawn still had to be half an hour away, at best. He heaved a sigh, looking back at me. Then he flipped Riptide around in his grip so he could grasp me by the shoulders and press a soft, lingering kiss to my lips. I wanted time to stop right then; I wanted to forget that we were about to go into battle, that I was probably about to make myself sick, that the world was against us and help might not get here in time. I just wanted that moment to last forever, when Percy's lips were warm against mine and all I could taste and feel and breathe was him.

But of course it couldn't last. He pulled away and nodded up at me. He flipped Riptide back around and his eyes moved to the horizon, scanning. I realized he was in a guard position – he was guarding me. Now I could turn my full attention to the task at hand. "Okay," he said, nodding to me, "do it."

I turned to face the river – and the graveyards that lay across it. I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath as I grasped my sword in both hands. As I exhaled I stabbed my sword blade-first into the ground. Then I reached out with my mind, to every body that I could feel had been buried beneath the soil of the city of Boston, and I called them all to me.


	15. Ch 13: The Battle of Bunker Hill

**The Age of Heroes**

**Chapter 13: The Battle of Bunker Hill**

"Nico..." Percy stood behind me, sounding a little like he wanted to say, _"I told you so,"_ but more like he was too worried to gloat.

I took a deep breath, climbing up from hands and knees into a standing position – or at least something that I hoped approximated one. I tried not to look at the wet spot in the grass where I'd just tried to throw up and had instead just gagged on bile. I guessed throwing up was a problem when you haven't eaten in at least a day.

"I'm okay," I said, wiping my mouth on the back of my arm, but I wasn't entirely convinced of that myself so it wasn't entirely unreasonable that Percy didn't look like he believed me in the least.

He glanced down at the wet spot in the grass and then my sword beside it, still planted blade-first in the soil. "Did it work?"

I nodded, then thought better of it and stopped when the world started tilting crazily around me. "Yeah," I said, spitting into the grass and trying to get the horrible taste out of my mouth, "it worked." I could feel, ever-so-distantly, that it was working. Right now, the dead were waking. And soon they'd be on their way.

Percy looked sympathetic. "Hey, when we get back, I'm taking you for burgers at McHale's." He stepped over to my side and slipped an arm around my waist; I wasn't sure if he just wanted to be close or if he was afraid I was going to fall over otherwise. I didn't mind the former, and the latter not have been too far off.

"Heh," I tried to chuckle, slouching against him, "Yeah, okay."

He squinted out over the river, where the lights of the city were just starting to wash out as the sky began to grow lighter behind us. "So... how long do you think it'll take?" I knew what he was thinking – we didn't know how much time we had. Kronos could be on his way here right now.

I shrugged as best I could. "I dunno. I'm honestly not sure how fast dead people can travel." Ordinarily I would've said walking speed or less, but that was the funny thing about the dead – those that had come back from the other side perceived distances a lot differently than the living did. They could slip through cracks that live people couldn't, just like I could slip through shadows by virtue of my blood.

"Hm," Percy said, glancing at me and offering a bit of a grin. "Too bad. I would've figured if anybody'd know, it'd be you."

I smiled in return, but my head was still pounding and I didn't want to laugh for real. "I guess we'll just have to find out."

We just leaned against each other in the pre-dawn air and waited for our army to come. I was alternately feeling pretty awful and just plain tired, but the awful spells were getting shorter and Percy kept an arm around me every time it felt like the ground was going to give way beneath my feet. I could feel the presence of death floating up the street like a low, cold fog, and on it was the smell of bodies – lots of them. They were coming. I just hoped they arrived before Kronos did.

It took maybe fifteen or twenty minutes, but then it happened. Figures began to appear at the end of the road. Up the street they came, not so much in ranks or lines as in groups: massive conglomerations of bone and flesh and bits of hair and cloth. Shuffling up the road were bodies that had once been men, women, and children. Some were still wearing the rags of what had obviously once been fine clothing, but some were rotted down to the bones. Most still had bits of dirt and grass clinging to them, and a few were even carrying long, splintered pieces of wood that must have come from their coffins. All of their eyes – their eye-sockets, really, because none had actual eyeballs left – were empty, vacant, but somehow I knew all of them were looking for me.

It was really pretty gruesome. I was starting to see the appeal of just using skeletons, the way my father did. The smell wasn't nearly as overpowering.

Now it was Percy's turn to look sick, as his arm slipped away from me and he took a few steps forward, as if to get a better view. "Oh, _fuck_, Nico..." He stared at the mass of bodies coming toward us, his expression right down the middle between awe and horror.

"You said you liked zombies," I said, trying to sound wry, but even I was a little unsettled. I'd never controlled this many corpses before – never even come _close_ to it. Animating them had taken plenty of energy from me, but at least _keeping_ them animated wasn't as hard as getting them there. I wasn't feeling a whole lot worse than I had when I'd called to them. But even if I had felt worse, it wouldn't have mattered. We needed these corpses – these _people_. And so I stood my ground and watched them come.

Beside me, Percy whispered, "I think I changed my mind."

I glanced over at him, swallowing the bitter taste in my mouth at the look on his face. "Percy..." I whispered, for the first time in a while actually worried about what his reaction might be, "this is who I am. This," I spread my arms unsteadily as the legions of the dead shuffled into some semblance of order around us, "is what I do." I'd known he wasn't going to like this idea, but now I started to wonder if maybe I shouldn't have even suggested it, even if I did think it might be our only hope.

Percy was quiet, looking at me for a long moment. The only sound was the clicking and creaking and shuffling of the corpses as they assembled themselves into an army that, I hoped, could counter whatever Kronos would bring with him. But suddenly I was more worried about the boy in front of me and what he saw when he looked at me and knew that the only thing I could ever reign over was the dead. Being sixteen had only made me stronger, but that in turn meant I was just that much more connected to the Underworld – to _death_.

Maybe he could never understand; after all, Percy had the sea – the pure, boundless waters that made life itself possible. _I_ had the opposite – the horrible stench of death, everything dead and dying that no longer belonged among the living. Everything from monsters to pegasi and dryads could smell death on me, and I would never be rid of it. For the first time since that day my father had stopped us in the streets of New York, I wondered if maybe this just wasn't possible. If maybe love just wasn't enough.

But then Percy's expression changed – he started looking less sick, and while the awe didn't go away, the horror did. He nodded slowly and he started to smile, just a little. "I know it is," Percy said quietly, just watching me and the dead bodies that had come to my – our – aid. "And I don't think I'd want you to be any other way."

I felt almost faint with relief; or that might have been the effect of exerting so much willpower over the corpses. All the same, I pulled my sword from where it was still lodged in the ground and shuffled over to Percy so I could stand shoulder to shoulder with him. "You do that a whole lot," I admitted, even though it was clear from his expression that he didn't know what I meant.

"Do what?"

"Nothing," I said, and reached over to clasp his hand. Maybe I'd tell him later, but not right now. It was too big to explain, even if all I had to say was, _You make me want to die when I think you don't want me around_. Now wasn't the time to think about that.

His grip was dry and firm, and he stood steadily beside me. I looked around us as the army I'd created. The entire hill was filled with milling corpses shifting uneasily in the grass. The blue-black of the sky had started turning into streaks of white and orange in the east, but the sun still hadn't broken the horizon. Overhead, there was still no sign of our reinforcements.

And what was when we heard it.

It started out as just a distant crashing sound and intermittent car alarms, but as the noise grew louder we could see something moving a couple blocks away. A _large_ something. As it drew closer, the shadowy mass resolved into a legion of _dracaenae_ archers, a large pack of telekhines, and at least fifteen figures in Greek armor that must have been half-bloods that Kronos had brought around to his cause. Bringing up the rear were four giants, and behind them was a red convertible – driven by Medea, with Kronos in the passenger seat. He was wearing golden armor and his scythe rested against his shoulder, the blade glinting wickedly off the brightening sky.

It might not have been quite an army, but it was no small task force, either. And it was definitely more than Percy or I could have taken alone, especially after what we'd been through in the past two days. But that was what we had _our_ army for – the army of dead at our backs, ranging from colonists to slaves, Samuel Adams and John Hancock to Paul Revere and Mother Goose. I knew that most of the corpses wouldn't last long in a battle, but what they lacked in strength they made up for in numbers. We had more bodies, but I still didn't know if it would be enough.

"... You know, I'm not all that great at history, but didn't the colonists _lose_ the Battle of Bunker Hill?" Percy suddenly asked.

So he remembered that, too. I nodded grimly. "Yeah, but the British suffered their worst casualties of the entire war."

Percy glanced at me, locking eyes for a moment. I knew we were both thinking the same thing: even if we weren't ready to face Kronos, even if Kronos _won_ this battle, we weren't going out without a fight. We would hurt him. We would make a difference. And if the prophecy required that I die in this one last stand, then I guessed I would. But it would be with Percy at my side.

Just the same, I really hoped it wouldn't come to that.

"Okay." Percy grasped my hand for a moment, his grip on Riptide never wavering. He squeezed my fingers and I could hear, almost as though he'd said it out loud, exactly what he was thinking.

_Let's do it._

*

Of course, _doing it_ was a great idea until one actually sat back and considered the feasibility of said action. After all, we were still just two half-bloods facing off against a Titan lord. Medea's car slowed to a stop and Kronos stepped out onto the street. He strode up through the ranks of monsters and they parted for him so he could come to the front of the crowd and stand at the bottom of the steps leading up the hill.

"Well, what have we here?" he asked, and Luke's mouth twisted into a gruesome approximation of a smirk. "I see you've decided to hold a party."

"Yeah, well didn't anyone ever tell you crashing other people's parties is rude?" Percy called from beside me, but he didn't move. We had the higher ground and we weren't going to give any of it up without a fight. "This is strictly invitation-only."

Kronos clucked his tongue. "So rude. You could have held a place at my side, Percy Jackson – you could have been the one with real power. And yet you threw it away for what? For gods that have forsaken you because you love a man. You know they fear you already."

Percy's eyes narrowed. I felt him tense beside me. "You don't know anything about me," he spat. "Or the gods."

I knew he was thinking back to that day, not too long ago, when Poseidon had found us alone on the beach. He'd said we'd made a lot of the gods uncomfortable, which was pretty much saying they were mad at us and just couldn't do anything about it. But Poseidon hadn't been angry – in fact, he'd said that he would do what he could to support us. I didn't know if he actually would or whether he'd be successful if he tried (the gods were notoriously bad listeners), but I knew how he felt and that was good enough for me. I knew Percy thought so, too.

"And you – what do you think, son of Hades?" Now Kronos trained those horrible golden eyes on me. Those eyes weren't human, and they didn't look right staring out of a human face. "I see you've weakened yourself to make a stand you will ultimately lose." His eyes swept over the hill before he looked back to me. "Do you even know why you did this? Do you truly know the person beside you? Do you know what he wants, what he's willing to give you – and more importantly, what he isn't?" He spread his arms, holding up his scythe like a flag. "You know what I can give you – you know what I have _already_ given you. Are you sure you wish to throw it all away?"

Mostly I was sure that I wanted to spit in his face. I _knew_ what Percy was willing to give me, because he'd already done it. Percy had been willing to give up his life for mine, and there was no higher price a mortal could pay. There was no question in my mind as to what he was or wasn't willing to do. Sure, there were times – like there had been, a few minutes ago – where he held more power over me than my father or any other god ever had. There were times when I worried that I wasn't what he wanted, that I could never be good enough for him. But those times had all passed, and he was still here beside me. He understood me in a way that Kronos never could.

"I don't see how I'm throwing anything away," I finally said, staring down the Titan in mortal's clothing. This close to him, I could feel Luke Castellan's own life force clearly – he was still alive, somewhere inside his own body, trapped. But he was dying. There was less of him left every time I encountered the Titan, and I knew Kronos could feel it, too. He knew he was running out of time just as much as I did. That was why he'd asked me for help.

Well, he wasn't going to get it. Not from me. "All I can see is you, throwing away your chance to surrender before we _make_ you do it."

Kronos' eyes narrowed, and I could almost feel the anger rolling off him in waves. "We shall see," he said lowly, "just which of us does the surrendering today, little godling. And we shall see," he finished, as he turned and retreated back through his lines, "how much you come to regret your decision."

He wasn't even going to fight us, I realized. He was going to let his monsters do the dirty work, while he and Medea sat prettily in the rear and let us wear ourselves down – or better yet, watched us die as we were overwhelmed by monsters. We might have most of Boston's dead at our backs, but they were nothing compared to living, breathing half-bloods, who still weren't here yet –

"Oh." Almost as if he sensed that thought, Kronos stopped in place and turned to face us again. "And don't worry about your little 'reinforcements'. I've seen to it that they have a... party of their own to attend."

Percy and I stared open-mouthed at each other for a moment, stunned. How had he known? Had Cephissus been spying on us when we'd gotten the Iris Message from Annabeth? I felt my stomach drop. If we weren't going to get help – if _they_ needed _our_ help...

But there was no more time to think about it. Kronos turned and made his way toward the back of his company again. As he walked, he raised his hand in a gesture to his troops, and the attack began.

_The best laid schemes of mice and men,_ I thought, and lowered my sword in front of me as the first line of telekhines came charging up the hill and arrows rained down on us as the _dracaenae_ archers took aim.

Things got crazy pretty quickly. You know how battles always look so organized on TV and in movies? Well, they're really not. There are people (well, in our case make that corpses and monsters) all over the place, and half the time you turn around expecting to come face to face with an enemy only to find out it's a friend – or, at least, a corpse that's supposed to be one of the good guys. I could feel it as the dead began to move forward and engage the enemy, as they were hacked to bits or shot through with arrows until they collapsed into piles of dust and bone and cloth, unable to move any longer.

The telekhines got caught up with the corpses, and while they tried to fight their way through I saw several of the figures in armor slide around the line and come charging up the hill. I tried to direct corpses in their direction, but there were too many for me to concentrate on and I had problems of my own as the first half-bloods made their way toward us and decided to try to cut Percy and me down to garner the Titan's favor.

Percy and I got separated pretty quickly, though we were never all that far apart. I would catch glimpses of him as we spun and ducked, trying to avoid getting hit by arrows and swords and clubs and teeth as, all the while, the dead ambled around us and down the hill in wave after wave. Even from the top of the hill it was hard to tell how things were going because there were just so many bodies everywhere.

But we were at a disadvantage – Percy and I were tired and we had no armor. I'd gotten grazed by at least two arrows, and it was getting hard to avoid more with so many distractions all over. I was used to fighting without a shield, but even though I was faster without the heavy Greek armor the enemy half-bloods wore, I was a lot more vulnerable without it. My arms were sore and tired from blocking blows meant to be taken with a shield or bracers, and my legs were in agony.

What was more, dawn was finally breaking – but there was no sign of reinforcements, either by flying horse or shadow traveling dog. I was really worried now – I mean, there were a lot of campers back at Camp Half-Blood, but we didn't know what Kronos had sent to keep them busy. What if they hadn't been ready for an attack?

A sword whooshing barely over the top of my head brought me back into the present and reminded me that if my mind started wandering in earnest, that would be it. That's the weird thing about being ADHD, though – your mind can't _help_ but be in a million places at once, and while it's usually really helpful when you're fighting for your life, it can also be a big disadvantage if you can't figure out what's important to concentrate on and what's not.

But right now all I could concentrate on was how well this was _not_ going. All around us, corpses were dropping like flies as they were battered past all recognition by Kronos' forces. Percy and I were fighting for our lives, but we were tired and getting moreso by the second. I didn't know if we could outlast the monsters, and there was a very real chance that help wasn't coming. All I could think was that I hated Kronos so much, hated how he wasn't even a part of this battle, how Percy and I were going to die without even getting close to him. This wasn't what we needed to be doing. We had to get to the heart of the matter – _the heart_ –

Realization suddenly swelled within me; and with it, a new sense of determination. I knew what I had to do, if only I could get close enough to do it. "Percy!" I shouted; he was fighting with a telekhine not ten feet from me, and as I watched he swung his sword in a downward arc that severed the beast's arm from its body – seconds before said body exploded into a shower of dust, adding to the layer of grime already sticking to Percy's sweaty skin. I could see the various nicks and cuts from when he hadn't been fast enough, but there was still determination in his eyes and I knew he'd fight until he couldn't fight anymore. I just hoped that it would be long enough.

"You've got to hold here!" I said, trying to get to him through the crowd, pushing away corpses as they shuffled onward towards the enemy. "I know what I have to do!"

He frowned, not understanding. "What – you have to... what?" he panted, even as another enermy half-blood charged him. They hit, swords clanging, and Percy looked wildly at me. "What are you going to do?" he called, even as I turned around and started making my way down the hill.

"What I should've done before," I told him, and then I concentrated on getting to the base of the hill. I took a deep breath, calling on all the dead near me to help – they began crowding around me, forming a human shield of sorts that surrounded me as I pushed my way to the steps and began descending them.

Most of the monsters were on the hill now – there was only a group of _dracaenae_ left on the street, along with two of the giants standing guard around Medea's car. But the half-lizard women had bows and arrows, which weren't all that great against a close-in attack. I sent the corpses stumbling ahead of me and into the archers, who screamed in frustration and tried to bat them away as I passed through the line, leaving the chaos behind me.

The giants flanking the car grunted and made to move, but Kronos held up a hand from the backseat, where he was perched on the headrests, watching me intently. He grasped his scythe loosely in one hand, the blade glinting wickedly and I tried not to look at it.

"Magnificent." Kronos looked at me, his golden eyes almost glowing. His mouth stretched into a wide, horrific grin. "You've come so far, son of Hades. I've given you such power, and it gladdens me to see how you've embraced it, futile though your attempts may be. You will have the honor of dying on my blade."

I looked at Kronos, and I saw him for what he truly was – a tired, once-defeated Titan occupying a mortal body that was withering with every breath he took. I saw the faintest flicker of Luke – the real Luke – scrabbling away at the prison that held him, with no hope of release except for that of death. And _that_ I could give him.

"I don't think so." I didn't have any more time to think. I only had time to _act_, and so I followed my gut before my brain could decide it wasn't a good idea. I barreled toward the Titan in the half-blood's body, sidestepping the giants and ignoring the arrow that grazed my upper arm from behind. I had to make it to him before he slowed time, or I'd never even be able to touch him.

Suddenly I was on top of him, too close to stop, and I went crashing into the Titan before he'd even realized what had happened. I toppled him out of the convertible and we hit the pavement with a _thud_. Golden eyes stared at me from Luke Castellan's scarred face, but I was too close for him to hurt with the scythe, too near for him to stop time without stopping it for himself as well.

"What – ?"

I only had seconds before someone stopped me – before a giant simply swatted me off his lord or before Medea clawed me off of him. Only seconds to do what no one else could.

He'd given me new power, yes. And with that had come the realization – if I could control death, then why couldn't I urge it in the direction that I wanted? If the only way out for Luke was to die, I now had the power to grant him that wish. I could see him there, in Kronos' hold, and I had the power to give his soul the rest it finally deserved. I didn't know how I knew it, but I felt that I could do this more strongly than I had felt anything in my entire life, save maybe the way I felt toward the half-blood boy still fighting up on the hill. I really hoped that hunch was right, or I was about to die for nothing.

And so I reached _into_ Kronos, past his armor and his skin. All it took was enough concentration, and my hands sunk right into Luke's body like he was a hologram. I pushed my fingers past metal and skin and beating heart and bone like they weren't even there. My vision blurred and shimmered, and still I reached –

_There_.

I grasped what I was looking for in my hands, held on tight, and I _pulled_.

Something silver-gold and sharp hit me square in the chest, igniting a fire that started at my breastbone and seemed to spread to every part of my body. I felt my body fly backwards, my head cracking against the steps leading up the hill. Fireworks exploded behind my eyes as pain blossomed along my spine, but I fought unconsciousness with every shred of strength I had left. I cracked my eyes open, needing to see it –

And there it was. Glowing, soft-edged and white between my fingers, was Luke Castellan's soul.

It was roughly half the size of his physical body, human-shaped but without any real features. But in my mind I could see his features where a face would have been, and the same way you can look through someone's eyes and see their soul, I looked at his soul and all I could see were his eyes, wide and pleading. And I said what Luke needed to hear.

_Go_, I told him. _Go now_.

There was a fizzle of light, and as the thing slipped out of my fingers and away into the morning air, I felt my body give out and I fell back against the steps as I lost consciousness for what I knew might be the last time.


	16. Ch 14: Aftermath & Implications

**The Age of Heroes**

**Chapter 14: Aftermath & Implications**

"Oh my gods, he's _freezing_ – "

"Shut up – he'll be fine."

"Percy – "

"He'll be _fine_. See? He's breathing. Do you have any ambrosia?"

"Yeah, it's right here – look, Michael's on his way. Mrs. O'Leary would only carry me, but Chiron said he'd bring help himself as soon as he was sure that camp was secure. If you want to Iris message them agai– "

"Mmmn," I moaned.

"Nico? Nico! Are you awake?"

I supposed "awake" was one word for it, if you defined it somewhat loosely. I blinked my eyes open slowly. My eyelids felt like sandpaper, and I should point out that they felt about a hundred million times better than the rest of my body did. My head felt like someone had it in a vise that was more than a little too tight, and every part of me hurt more than I could remember ever hurting in the past. On top of that, I was pretty sure someone had filled my brain with maple syrup, because all my thoughts were taking twice as long to actually make sense.

At first all I could see was bright yellow light, so bright that it hurt my eyes and I had to squint, which also hurt. Then I began to make out shadows above me – two people, leaning over me and blocking the light so their faces were lost in the contrast. But one of those people was grasping my hand tightly in his, and the other had blonde hair tumbling over her shoulder.

"P-Percy?" I mumbled. My tongue felt thick and dry. "Annabeth?"

"Yeah – yeah, it's us. Don't move, Nico, okay?" Percy glanced at Annabeth and while I couldn't really make out his features, I could tell from the way that his voice was tight that he was worried. Really worried. "Give me the ambrosia."

Annabeth fumbled in a pocket for a minute before she came up with a ziplock baggie full of ambrosia cut into small, bite-sized squares like every half-blood carried with them when they went on a quest. She handed the bag to Percy, who let go of my hand to pull it open and fish out a few squares. "Here. Just eat this and lie still, okay?"

Despite his warning, I tried to get up – I didn't want to chew lying down, after all – but that turned out to be a really bad idea. My neck and head shot through with pain the instant I tried to move, and it was so bad that my vision actually fuzzed out in a shower of white sparks for a second.

"No! I told you not to move." Percy almost glared down at me from what I could tell, but it was clear that he was more worried than I could remember ever seeing him. "Annabeth, can you...?"

Beside me, Annabeth shifted so that she could get her hands under my shoulders and head, and she lifted me up as gently as possible so I could chew the chocolate chip cookie-flavored square. Even my mouth hurt, but the ambrosia seemed to melt over my tongue and run down my throat, coating it with warmth and taking at least a little bit of the shooting pain with it.

Percy fed me another three squares without stopping, but then Annabeth reached over and stopped him with one hand on his wrist. "You really should wait for Michael," she said, looking nervously at the bag in his hand before she looked at me again. "Look at his eyes."

I didn't know what she was talking about with my eyes, but although the ambrosia was starting to help with the pain, I guessed I understood what she meant. I was starting to feel pretty good, but it was a weird sort of good – there was still a lot of pain, but overlaid with that was this warm, tingly feeling, like a million little arcs of electricity were tickling across my skin. It felt nice, but I knew that no one but the gods could eat more than just a few bites of ambrosia without burning up from the inside out. And I had absolutely no desire to do that. After all, it looked like we'd won.

I could just barely see the tall obelisk of the Bunker Hill Monument towering behind Percy. Between it and us lay a great hulking mass with fur and four paws – Mrs. O'Leary, the hellhound. She was curled up on the grass napping, her tail beating against the ground tiredly. I could feel the tremors from it crawling through my body.

But if Annabeth and Percy were here... if they had time to be worried about me and talk about waiting for Michael (Michael Yew? He was the only Michael I knew, the new head of the Apollo Cabin, which I guessed that made him as close to a chief medic as Camp Half-Blood had), then we'd won. The army of Kronos was no longer here, so he must have been defeated, right? The question was, "How...?"

Percy blinked at me dumbly. "What?" He frowned. "How what?"

"Kronos," I croaked. "We stopped – "

But Percy was shaking his head, his eyes wide. "Not 'we', Nico, _You_. You're the one who stopped him. I don't even know what you did, but... It all happened so fast. It was amazing, Nico."

It must have been the maple syrup in my brain, but I wasn't sure I remembered being amazing at all. Everything from the battle was kind of fuzzy, and before I'd really gotten the chance to process what Percy had said there was the sound of hoofbeats that echoed up through the ground and into my bones, and a new voice said, "I don't care what it was, he's my patient now so you'll have to back off."

Another shadow fell across my face, as Michael Yew inserted himself between Annabeth and Percy with an almost professional air. He just stared at me for a few seconds, but then his hands were on my face, feeling my temperature before sliding down the rest of my body as he peered into my eyes.

"How much ambrosia did you give him?" he asked, his head snapping up to Percy.

"Four squares."

"Two would've been fine," Michael said shortly, turning back to me. "Definitely a concussion, pupils are unevenly dilated... there's nothing broken, that's probably a miracle... arrow grazes..." He murmured to himself as he worked, while Percy and Annabeth stood to face Chiron, who had to be standing just out of my line of sight. Percy kept glancing back down at me though, and he tried to smile at me reassuringly.

"Well... this is not quite what I had expected," I heard Chiron say with some trepidation. "When you said he raised the dead... I hadn't quite envisioned _so many_ of them."

"Well, we didn't know what we were facing," Percy answered, duly sounding a bit chastised on my behalf. "It was a good idea." I had to admit, it made my stomach feel warm and tingly to hear him defending me, even after I'd seen the look in his eyes when that army of corpses had first come marching up the street.

"Indeed not," was all Chiron said for a moment, and there was silence as Michael continued checking me over.

"How many fingers?" Michael asked me, bringing my attention back to him as he held one hand up in front of my face.

I squinted painfully into the light. "Two – no, three..." It would've helped if his hand hadn't kept blurring.

He sighed loudly, and reached over to his belt where he unclipped a waterbottle. He unscrewed the lid, holding it up to my lips. I almost expected it to be nectar, but it turned out to be just plain water. I realized that it tasted just as good to my parched throat as nectar ever had.

Then he pressed his fingers to my temples and began humming quietly in Ancient Greek – a healing prayer to Apollo, I realized. I'd already been tired, but I began to feel even drowsier until suddenly I opened my eyes again and realized that the world was a little less too bright and the ringing in my ears had gone quiet. Michael peered over my face, and I realized I must have passed out. I could've been out for seconds or minutes; I had no idea. There was a low murmur of voices in the background, telling me that Percy, Annabeth, and Chiron must still be talking.

"Pupils are equal," he murmured to himself, and then he glanced over his shoulder to where Chiron was standing. "He's okay to move now. But he should stay in bed when we get back to camp. He's still got a concussion and some nasty cuts, not to mention exhaustion." He looked down at me again. "Whatever it was you did that was so amazing, you used up every bit of energy you had doing it."

"Very good," Chiron said, coming into view as Michael pushed himself off the ground and made to help pull me to my feet.

Percy came over and offered a hand as well, and when I was finally upright (dizzy and nauseous, but upright), I realized how short Michael really was. For a minute I stared down at him, and he stared up at me, until he shook his head just slightly and turned to Chiron. "I really want to get him back – he shouldn't stand for very long."

The centaur nodded, looking at me and Percy. For a minute I had a decent view of the hill, and I realized just what kind of a mess we'd made – there were bodies strewn everywhere, even down the concrete steps and spilling out into the street. Some looked like they'd been hacked to bits and some had arrows sticking out of their flesh or bones, but some looked like intact (well, relatively) corpses that had simply been dropped to lie where they now rested. I couldn't help but feel powerful and embarrassed all at once.

"Let's get back to camp, then. We can discuss the matter further there," Chiron finally said, flicking his tail as he looked around at the carnage littering the hillside. "I don't think any of us want to be here when the police arrive and have to explain this to the papers."

*

Percy woke Mrs. O'Leary, who was willing to carry the two of us back to camp via shadow travel. When we arrived she pretty much dropped where she'd stepped out of the shadows on the lawn of the Big House, dog-like snores already coming from her black snout. "Poor girl," I murmured, patting her side as I slid down to the ground and Percy helped me stand a bit awkwardly, as he'd slid my sword through one of the beltloops on his jeans.

A moment later Chiron appeared, almost like a mirage – one minute there was nothing, and then the next it was like he shifted into focus and suddenly there he was, with Annabeth and Michael clinging to his back. The two of them slid down immediately, and Annabeth came over and took my other arm and together she and Percy helped me up the porch and into the sitting room of the Big House.

They deposited me in the biggest, fluffiest armchair in the room, the arms of which had doilies that looked like they might have been rescued at the last minute from one of Grover's nervous chewing fits.

Michael followed us into the room with Chiron, but he stayed in the doorway and shifted from foot to foot. "Um... I can see if someone will give up their bed in the Hermes – "

"I'm staying with Percy," I said, my voice sounding as firm as I could make it. All the heads in the room swiveled to me; Percy's face looked blank for a second before he began to smile, but Chiron didn't look all that excited about what I'd just said.

"Nico," he said slowly, like he was trying to explain to a small child why they couldn't have a toy they wanted, "there is – "

"Absolutely no reason why I shouldn't stay with him," I said, trying to sit up a little straighter in the recesses of the chair. "I'm not the son of Hermes and we all know that cabin is overcrowded." Chiron didn't look particularly convinced, and I sighed, feeling a little dizzy but holding his gaze nonetheless. "Look, we're in no shape to _do_ anything inappropriate or whatever you're worried about, and Poseidon himself said he's okay with us. I don't think he's going to strike me dead for sleeping in his cabin when I apparently got myself halfway there just fine earlier today." Honestly, I'd already _slept with_ Percy in that cabin once and Poseidon hadn't seemed to care about that. I didn't mention that part, though – I was pretty sure it wouldn't help my argument any.

Percy coughed, but glanced at Chiron, who was looking unhappy, but not like he had a comeback to that. "He's got a point..."

"There _are_ plenty of free beds in Percy's cabin," Michael put in quietly, and when everyone turned to look at him, he just shrugged. "I'm just saying. He's likely to get more rest there than he will in cabin eleven."

"I'll make sure he gets some rest. I swear," Percy said solemnly.

After a minute Chiron sighed, but turned to look at Michael once more. "Very well. Thank you, Michael."

"Yeah, thanks," I echoed sincerely; the head of the Apollo cabin smiled at me and nodded, slipping out the door and closing it behind him.

"Now, Nico," Chiron said, turning back to me with the full weight of his attention upon me, "I've heard Percy's side of the story, but it's a bit incomplete. Could you please tell me what you remember?"

I blinked, opening my mouth slightly as I tried to answer his question. What _did_ I remember? I remembered fighting, and I remembered hurting, and I remembered thinking I had to confront Kronos – thinking that if I could just get to _Luke_, pull the mortal soul that was keeping Kronos alive _out_ of his body...

"I – wait, I did it?"

I didn't have to clarify what _it_ was; Percy was nodding at me, his eyes dark. "You did _something_. I don't even know what it was – it just looked... weird. Amazing. I don't know." He ran a hand through his hair, still dusty and sweaty. "Do you remember?"

"I..." I swallowed, flexing my fingers slightly. They felt stiff and sore. Then I looked at Annabeth, who'd been very quiet ever since we'd gotten back. She was standing next to Percy, her face pale and her gray eyes locked on mine. I didn't know what Percy had told her. I didn't know if any of them realized what I'd done.

"I let Luke go," I said quietly, watching Annabeth as I spoke. "I thought... I mean, every time I was near Kronos I could just feel it, the way Luke's soul was dying. So I just... gave him what he wanted." I tried to explain everything to Annabeth silently, but all I could say out loud, finally, was, "I gave him peace."

Annabeth's face had gone even paler, and she was blinking rapidly, like she was trying not to cry. I didn't blame her – I mean, Percy had told me about Annabeth and Luke, about how she'd always looked up to him. I knew that Percy suspected she loved Luke, even if she could never admit it. Hearing that I'd pretty much killed him... well, I wouldn't be surprised if she started yelling at me. In fact, I was almost expecting it.

Instead, she swallowed and blinked a few more times. When she spoke, her voice was so quiet I almost couldn't hear the words. "So he's... gone, now? It's over?"

I started to nod, the beginnings of an immense relief starting to wash over me, but just then Chiron held up a finger and said, "Actually... I think not quite."

The three of us turned to look at him, and Chiron tilted his chin toward Percy. "Percy, can you tell Nico what you saw? Including what happened after he lost consciousness."

Percy nodded. "It was kind of hard to see, once you started heading down the hill – but your eyes, Nico," he said, staring right at me, "they looked... I don't know. Possessed, maybe. They looked almost green, glowing... But you just walked right down the hill and past the _dracaenae_, and then I saw you grappling with Kronos. Your hands just disappeared and then I saw you pull something... I thought I saw some kind of mist around your hands for a second, but then I couldn't make it out anymore."

I realized that Percy probably hadn't been able to see the full manifestation of Luke's soul. But he'd seen part of it, probably because of the abilities he now shared with me. I wasn't sure regular people – well, regular, non-sons-of-Hades half-bloods – could sense souls the way I could. And honestly, I hadn't known I could hold them until just a few hours ago. I hadn't even been sure it would _work_.

"Then he threw you off and his scythe suddenly turned back into Backbiter." Percy went on, frowning a bit. "He started swinging it around wildly and screaming... there was this kind of _snap!_ that... well, it wasn't out loud, more like in my head." He frowned. "After that, you stopped moving and Kronos crawled back into Medea's car and they took off. The rest of their troops either scattered or got confused, so the battle didn't last much longer than that." He cocked a wry grin at me. "Which was good, because as soon as you went down, most of the corpses did too, and I was really afraid you were going to join them."

I gave Percy a small, reassuring smile, but I couldn't stop going over what he'd just told me in my head. _Kronos had gotten back up again_. He'd crawled into Medea's car and retreated. But if I had actually succeeded in setting Luke free, his body should have died on the spot – Kronos should be gone for good. But he wasn't...

"He cut it," I said suddenly, and Chiron was looking at me now and nodding.

"What?" Annabeth asked, looking between us, confused and obviously not liking it. Her ponytail whipped back and forth as she turned her head. "Cut what?"

"His soul," I said, realizing just what had happened. "When I pulled it out... he somehow caught the end of it and cut it." I looked at Chiron. "So that means Kronos still has part of Luke's soul. It's how his body is still alive."

"Wait, you're saying Luke's soul has been _cut in two_?" Annabeth asked, her voice starting to sound almost shrill. "You can cut people's _souls_?"

"I guess you can," Percy said, his face thoughtful.

Chiron nodded. "I believe it might have been possible, thanks to Backbiter's... unique composition."

Backbiter was half celestial bronze, and half tempered steel. It was a blade made to injure both mortals and immortals, and somehow the combination had done something that no other sword, save mine and others like it, could do. It had severed Luke's soul, so that I'd only set free a part of it. The other part was still connected to his mortal body, keeping it alive and buying Kronos the time he needed...

But it wasn't very much time. When I looked at Chiron, I could see that he knew it, too. "He doesn't have much time left," I said, and both Percy and Annabeth looked back at me. "He's got even less of Luke's soul left than he did before – he's going to have to switch bodies soon. A lot sooner," I saw Chiron nod, "than we thought."

"And now that there exists a sixteen year-old son of Hades," Chiron finished for me, "the final battle may be upon us much sooner than any of us thought."

*

But the final battle wasn't going to happen today – of that, at least, we could be sure. Kronos' troops had not only been routed in Massachusetts, but also here, after they'd attacked the campers as they prepared to leave in order to help us.

Annabeth told us about how she'd just barely gotten everyone mobilized when the monsters had started to attack. The campers had gotten only a few miles north of the camp's magically-protected borders when they'd been ambushed by a legion of monsters that sounded like it was at least twice the size of the attack force Kronos had brought to Bunker Hill.

"I don't know how he knew, but he sent them to exactly where we were," Annabeth finished, shaking her head. "It's a wonder we didn't lose anybody – I mean, not that I'm complaining," she said quickly, "but the attack was just so precise... so..." She trailed off, her eyes going wide.

"A spy," Percy said suddenly, and even as he said it, it made perfect sense. I felt my stomach go cold, but it might very well be the best – the only – explanation. "He's got a spy in camp."

Chiron's mouth was set in a grim line, and he suddenly looked a lot older than he usually did. "I think Percy may be right," he said quietly, after a pause.

"But who?" Annabeth demanded. "We know everyone here – I mean, sure, Kronos has recruited half-bloods to his cause," she said, and cast a quick glance at me before looking back at Chiron, "but everyone here... I'd trust them with my life."

"Except maybe Clarisse," Percy muttered, but that only made Annabeth round on him.

"Clarisse may be a lot of things, but she's _not_ a spy!" she said.

Chiron took a step forward, placing his hands on Percy and Annabeth's shoulders. "It won't do to start accusing people just because they are sullen or hard to get along with," he said, and that seemed to make Annabeth calm down a little. "I believe it would be wisest if this information never left this room." He looked around at all of us, taking a step back as he did so. "We must proceed with the utmost caution. Blindly accusing others will get us nowhere."

Percy finally nodded, and Annabeth's jaw was set. Chiron looked to me, and I gave him a small nod as well. He was right, after all – I didn't like Clarisse either, but I wasn't ready to assume that she was working for Kronos. We couldn't know what anybody was thinking, and going around pointing fingers would just do more harm than good. The only thing we could do for now was to operate with the utmost caution, and watch what we said.

"Now," Chiron said, flicking his tail, "Nico looks about ready to collapse, and I think we all could do with some sleep as well." He looked around the room at the three of us once more, and turned toward the door. "I will call a meeting of the heads of all the cabins tomorrow morning. This," he said slowly, "includes Nico, even though there is no official Hades cabin." He cast a glance over his shoulder that was hard to read – it might have been pride, or it might have been apology. It might even have been worry.

"Right," I said, thinking that if I looked like I was ready to collapse, I _felt_ like it was long overdue. I had a headache that had started to pulse with my heartbeat, and I suddenly wasn't so sure, as I moved to try and get myself up off the chair, that I would even really be able to stand.

Percy seemed to get that, though, and he moved to my side, helping me up and supporting at least half my weight as he slung one of my arms around his shoulders. "Chiron's right," he said quietly, as the centaur opened the door and stepped out of the room. "You do look about ready to keel over."

"I feel like it, too," I told him, and he only nodded and started helping me out the door. Annabeth brought up the rear; the expression on her face made it clear that she was thinking, and hard, about this spy business. Or maybe she was thinking about Luke – about how his soul had been cut in two. I suddenly hoped she was thinking about the former.

She did step past us to hold the porch door open, however, and she helped Percy get me down the stairs. "Thanks," I told her, and she just looked at me with those stormy gray eyes for a minute.

"Nico," she said quietly, as we started down the path toward the cabins, "I want you to know that I think you did the right thing."

I blinked. "What?"

"With – I mean, with Luke. Trying to set him free... I think you did the right thing."

"Oh." I watched her carefully, but she really did seem sincere. I thought about it for a minute, trying to imagine what it would be like if Percy was suffering like that. Would I really have been able to thank someone who had done – or tried to do – what I had?

After a minute, I could only think that _yes_, I could. If Percy had been suffering, with no way to save him... then how could I condemn someone who had tried to end that pain?

"I'm sorry," was all I could say, as we neared the U-shape of cabins. "I wish there was more I could have done."

But Annabeth only shook her head, and started walking a little faster. "It's not your fault." She looked from me to Percy and back again. "Either of you." Her mouth curved upwards into a small smile, though it looked a bit watery, and she cocked her head in the direction of Percy's cabin. "Now get some sleep, you two. I'll see you later."

"Later," Percy and I echoed, before we trudged slowly towards the Poseidon cabin, our shoes scuffing along the path and kicking up small clouds of dirt. Most of the camp seemed eerily deserted – I wondered how much of it was because it was still early in the day, and how much of it was because every camper here had already been through an arduous battle before the sun had really cleared the horizon.

All I knew was that I'd be glad to get some sleep, knowing that we were safe – well, relatively safe, for now – and that I could spend the entire day in cabin three with Percy, and there was nothing anyone was going to do about it. Suddenly having a concussion didn't seem all that bad. Well, except for the pain, the vertigo, and the nausea...

As cabin number three loomed up in front of us with its low, gray walls made of sea stone, the breeze made something flutter at the base of the door. Percy stopped, leaning down to pick up whatever it was off the doorstep. As he lifted it, I realized he was grasping a small envelope that looked like it was made from aged, crumbling parchment. On the back it read, in curling black script that it took my brain at least half a minute to decipher, _Nico di Angelo_.


	17. Ch 15: The Second Letter

[**A/N:** Slight spoilers for _The Last Olympian_.]

**The Age of Heroes**

**Chapter 15: The Second Letter**

I wasn't sure why I was suddenly getting so much mail (okay, two letters isn't really a lot, but when they're the only two you've ever gotten in your life, suddenly maybe they are), but I wasn't sure I wanted to open this one. We just stood there for a minute on the doorstep, the envelope in Percy's hands and both of us staring at it, until Percy suddenly started moving again. He pushed open the door and lugged me in through it before closing it and crossing the room with its two rows of neatly-made unclaimed beds to the back corner where his bed sat, the last on the end near the saltwater fountain.

He stopped next to the empty bed beside his and glanced at me. Then he handed me the envelope. The paper crackled in my hands, partly with age, but also partly with power. I could feel it running through the paper, into my fingertips and from there into my veins. I almost dropped the thing right there.

It was from Hades. It was a letter from my father – I knew it in my gut just like I knew that I was alive and that Percy was standing beside me. I knew it because of the cold feeling of death that rolled off the envelope, slithering onto the floor and curling around my wrists. For a brief instant I wanted to toss it into the fountain, not interested in anything he could possibly have to say to me. But the look in Percy's eyes told me that even if I did that, he'd fish it out and read it _to_ me. Somehow, this was important.

Inside was a piece of parchment that matched the envelope, yellowed and curling at the edges as though someone had held it too close to a flame. There was one line written in the middle in ink so black that it seemed to swallow up the light, the words almost sinking into the paper. I had to read the sprawling script a few times to make it make sense. And then I had to read it a few more.

It said, simply, _Anna di Angelo was not your mother._

I blinked, my vision swimming and for a minute I didn't know why. It could have been vertigo or it could have been the unshed tears I could feel prickling at the back of my eyes, because I felt like I'd been hit in the stomach (and I already had, once today). I felt like I was losing my mother all over again, even if I'd never really found her in the first place. For a brief moment I stood there with the parchment freezing in my fingers, and I felt utterly alone.

But then Percy's solid form shifted beside me, warm as his fingers curled around the hand holding the parchment, and I felt his hair brush against my temple as he leaned into me. And then I wondered, _how could I ever feel alone, when he was always going to be right there beside me?_

Suddenly I didn't want to stand anymore. I sat down on the bed behind us, hard. Percy followed me down, sitting next to me as he took the paper gently from my fingers and set it beside us on the bed. Neither of us said anything at first, the air in the cabin muggy and thick – as thick as the thoughts running in circles around my head.

Then, "Hey," Percy said quietly, after a minute, "at least you know the truth."

I looked at him for a minute, his words echoing back and forth inside my mind, which suddenly felt very empty. And then I started laughing, feeling almost giddy. I couldn't stop. Suddenly the whole thing seemed ridiculous.

"Nico?" Percy asked, sounding like he was worried I'd cracked or something. For a minute I felt like maybe I had.

I eventually managed to stop laughing and said, "He finally talks to me – goes though all the trouble of sending me a letter – and it says _what_? 'Anna di Angelo was not your mother.' Thanks, Dad," I said, sarcastically, wrinkling my nose at the paper. "You couldn't actually be bothered to tell me who _was_ my mother, then."

Percy was quiet for a moment, almost stunned, and then he started chuckling despite himself. I glanced over at him to see that he was watching me with a wry sort of expression in his eyes. "I guess you have a point," he admitted, placing one hand on my knee and squeezing. "It does seem pretty unfair."

I just sighed in frustration, all the laughter gone out of me. Okay. So Anna di Angelo hadn't been my mother. Had she even been _related_ to my mother? Was her life and death completely coincidental, just something that Medea had been able to fabricate and use to draw me out? I didn't know – I didn't know anything, except that there was one woman out there (or, well, had been) who shared my last name and who hadn't been my mother. It was like looking for a needle in a haystack, only someone had conveniently picked up one of the pieces of hay and told you, very helpfully, _This one isn't a needle_.

Sitting there, with the parchment from my father next to us and the letters from it somehow burned onto my eyes, I realized just how exhausted I was – drained past any of my reserves, and my head was spinning and the mattress felt like it might topple me to the ground if I didn't lie down. As Percy watched I slid down onto the blankets, my head missing the pillow by a few inches but I didn't even care. I was just so, so tired. I just needed to sleep. Maybe for a week. That might have almost been enough. Then I could deal with everything again.

I head Percy chuckling again as I felt myself starting to drift off to sleep and didn't have the strength to try to fight it. I felt the mattress shift as he got up and then he started tugging at my boots.

"No shoes on the bed," he said lightly, and that was the last thing I heard before I fell deeply, utterly asleep.

*

Of course, I didn't get to sleep for a week – I didn't even get to sleep for twenty-four hours. I did sleep until nightfall, though; when I woke up the cabin was dark, with the sounds of late-summer crickets filtering in through the cracks under the door and around the windows. I was sprawled out on the bed almost in the same position in which I'd fallen asleep, but there was something warm and solid by my side that had an arm slung over my chest.

I smiled to myself in the dark and glanced over at Percy's sleeping form. His bangs, which had grown awfully long and probably needed a haircut, were covering his right eye and his mouth hung open slightly. His chest moved rhythmically, slowly, and he looked utterly content. I realized that I couldn't blame him. Right now, lying here with him in his cabin, I could almost forget the world outside. It felt right, and it felt safe. Even if I knew it couldn't last.

I didn't know what time it was, but it had to be past curfew. The moon hung large and low in the windows, casting a silver light over everything that was almost bright enough to see by in and of itself. I tried to go back to sleep, but although my head was still spinning and aching, I couldn't do it. So I just lay there in the dark for a while, staring at the ceiling of Percy's cabin and feeling his comforting weight next to me and trying to think about absolutely nothing at all.

Maybe half an hour later, Percy took a deep breath and started to stir beside me. He yawned, blinking as he lifted his head enough to glance up at my face. When he realized I was awake, he gave me a sort of lopsided grin and asked, "What're you doing up?"

I shrugged against the blankets. "I dunno. I just couldn't fall back asleep." I tried to stretch a little, now that I didn't have to worry about waking him up, and every bit of me still felt stiff and sore – and sticky. I realized I was filthy, still dressed in the same clothes that I'd been wearing since I'd woken up in Medea's lab – clothes that had been to the bottom of the Charles River and back, that had been through a whole battle earlier today, and were ripped and caked with sweat, dirt, and blood.

Percy must have noticed the way I was wrinkling my nose, because he chuckled and asked, "What?"

"I really want a shower," I said, plucking at the material of my black t-shirt. "I'm disgusting."

"Hm." Percy propped himself up on his elbows and looked me over once. "Yeah... you are, a little." He laughed and ducked as I tried to get one arm to move enough to smack him upside the head, but I didn't really mean it.

"Well, you're not the picture of cleanliness yourself, you know," I told him, which made him glance down at himself and he made a face, too. He'd taken off his t-shirt, which was probably lying in a dirty, crumpled pile on the floor, but his chest and arms were streaked with dirt and dried blood as well, though thankfully most of it didn't seem to be his. He hadn't been hurt badly enough, I remembered with relief, to need any real medical attention.

"Well, what do you say to a shower now?" I asked, struggling up onto my elbows and hoping that the worst of the dizziness seemed to have subsided. "I could shadow t –"

But Percy was shaking his head. "Oh, no. You do that and you'll probably pass out as soon as we get there." He pushed himself up off the bed with a quiet groan. "We do this the old-fashioned way."

I sat up, watching him as he hunted for towels and soap among the various things strewn about his corner of the cabin. "It's got to be after curfew. I'm not really excited about the idea of the harpies catching us."

Percy just shrugged, tossing a grin back at me as he came up with two (hopefully) clean towels and a bar of soap. "I've snuck out before. I'm not really worried about it."

So not five minutes later, he and I (with me still leaning on him more than a little for support) made our way cautiously through the moonlight towards the building that housed the toilets and showers. The building was dark and echoing, empty like you'd expect it to be in the middle of the night. With the moonlight filtering in through the high-set windows we didn't need to turn on the lights, which was good because that would have attracted attention for sure. Not that I was really sure Chiron would begrudge us a shower... but there was no guaranteeing it would be Chiron who found us.

We undressed stiffly and piled into a single shower stall; Percy spun the tap and we both hissed as the water came out freezing for a few seconds before it started to warm up. There wasn't a whole lot of room in there (well, nobody built summer camp shower stalls for two), but I wasn't about to complain. Besides, if I had tried to shower by myself I was pretty sure it wouldn't have worked so well. I was still pretty unsteady on my feet, and while balancing with my back against the cool tiles of the shower stall worked pretty well, I was glad Percy was in there with me to catch me if I lost my footing.

Honestly, Percy did most of the work – again, not that I was complaining, though there's nothing to make you feel like an invalid like someone else soaping you up in the shower. But it was also actually really nice – his hands were warm through the suds, and more than once I leaned down to interrupt him and steal a kiss as the water plastered our hair to our heads and ran into our eyes and mouths. It tasted a bit like rust, but that was okay because Percy tasted good despite it.

And despite everything else, I was starting to feel better. I didn't know if it was just being clean or that the water was maybe helping to recharge me like I knew it did for Percy, but by the time we were both passably clean and thoroughly-kissed, I was feeling like I was only down to half my reserves and not rock-bottom. The water was starting to run cold again by the time Percy shut it off, and we toweled dry in the muggy air before we realized the one glaring flaw in our plan: we hadn't brought any clean clothes with us.

"Well... that was great planning ahead," I said sarcastically, wrapping my towel around my waist and gathering up my dirty clothes in my arms. I really didn't want to put them back on if I could manage it. It felt like they were getting my hands grimy just holding them.

"I don't recall you mentioning bringing clean clothes either," Percy shot back, looking pretty chagrined as he did the same.

There was only one thing for it, I figured, stepping closer to him. "Now I think I'd better get us back my way."

"What? No!"

"You'd rather be caught streaking through camp?" I asked, raising an eyebrow and trying to imagine how we'd explain that one if we got caught. I really didn't want to think about it. Especially if we got caught by harpies.

"Well, we have _towels_," Percy pointed out, but even he seemed to realized that towels really weren't good substitutes for pants.

"And I feel a lot better now," I pointed out. So before he could complain, I grabbed Percy's hand and concentrated on getting us back to his cabin.

It worked, but not really as well as I'd have liked. "... Okay, maybe not," I mumbled, stumbling a little as we materialized out of the shadows in the corner of the Poseidon cabin. Percy immediately dropped his clothes on the floor and braced me with both hands under my arms.

"I told you it was a bad idea! Come on, lie back down," he said, steering me over to the bed we'd left rumpled and pulling the crisp, clean sheets back this time before levering me down onto it. He pulled my wet towel off, stepping out of his as well before he climbed into the bed after me and pulled the covers up over us. There was a bit of shifting around until we got comfortable, but we ended up in pretty much the same position we had before, with me on my back and Percy pressed against my side.

It was weird, I thought – usually Percy was the one on his back and _I_ was the one curled up against his chest, but that had been when he was bigger than me. Now that I was bigger...

I wasn't bigger by much, but that didn't matter – it was a lot bigger than I was really _used_ to being, and while I hadn't had a lot of time to think about it for the past day or so, the implications of everything that had happened suddenly seemed to come crashing down on me all over again.

"... Percy?"

"Hm?" He raised his head a little, damp hair leaving droplets on the bare skin of my arm.

"This is... this is really okay, right?" I knew we'd talked about it, but that didn't mean I was suddenly a hundred percent okay with this. And it didn't mean I expected him to be, either.

He frowned. "What's okay?"

I bit my lip. "Me. I mean... I'm still... fuck, Percy, I'm still twelve." I shifted a little, uncomfortably. "I mean, I _feel_ twelve. On the inside. But on the outside... I'm really stuck this way, aren't I?" I'd thought that a hundred times before, but it still never seemed real. But by now, it was starting to sink in.

Percy shifted next to me, propping his chin on his arms, folding them over my chest. "I think so," he said quietly, his eyes hard to read in the dark. "But you're still _you_, like I said before." He shrugged a little, more an expression than a gesture. "I'm okay with you, however you are. You know that." He reached up, running fingers through my hair. "The question is, are _you_ gonna be okay with it?"

I watched him for a minute, my mind running in circles. Was I? Honestly, I was still scared. Really scared. But I tried to think about it a little more objectively. After everything I'd been through... was this really so bad? I'd always wanted people to treat me like less of a kid. I'd always hated it when Percy would look at me and I just _knew_ that even if he hadn't meant to, he'd seen a kid. I might still be exactly the same inside, but maybe it was more that my outside matched my inside a little better, instead of the opposite being true.

After all, I hadn't _really_ felt like a kid since Bianca had died. Since before then, really – since that night at Westover, when we'd first found out how and why we were different. Something had changed, that night, and it had only kept changing. After Bianca had died it was like there was no going back. I could never be the same... but then, I didn't really want to be who I'd been. For better or worse, this was who I was now. And I was just going to have to live with it.

Percy could. So why shouldn't I?

"Yeah," I said finally, finding my mouth stretching into a small smile, "I guess so. I mean, sometimes I really didn't feel like I was twelve, anyway."

"You didn't really act twelve," Percy pointed out with a snicker, then stopped. "Well, okay, you did... but it was a very mature twelve. Mostly."

"Riiight. Because you're so much older and wiser and you'd know."

"Well, technically you're, what? Seventy-something, I think." He started counting on his fingers.

"That doesn't count."

"Sure it does, old man."

"I don't even – " I stopped, the words catching in my throat. The smile died on Percy's lips, and he watched me in the dark, just waiting for me to go on; it was a minute before I could say the whole of it out loud: "I don't even know when I was born," I said quietly. "I still don't know who my mom was." I sighed, wondering if I would ever know the truth – wondering how much longer it was going to matter so much to me, how much longer I would feel that empty place in my soul when I wondered about who I'd been and where I'd really come from. About why I was even _here_. "I'm right back at the beginning."

"Well... it's as good a place as any to start over from," Percy said, and he levered himself up on his arms to kiss me, his lips warm against mine. "And this time I know you'll get it right."


	18. Ch 16: On the Horizon

**The Age of Heroes**

**Chapter 16: On the Horizon (End)**

The next time I woke, it was to the sound of someone knocking on the cabin door. Percy groaned from his position next to me and slid out of the bed. I heard him fumbling around – probably looking for clothes, I realized – and heard him pull something on before he called, "Yeah, come in!"

I heard the door creak open and a second later I head Annabeth say, "Hey, I wanted to let you know, you guys missed breakfast."

_That_ woke me up fully – I mean, now that I was conscious, I realized that I was also _starving._ I blinked my eyes open, rolling onto my side under the covers to see Percy approaching Annabeth as she stood in the doorway, framed by the morning sunlight. Couldn't she have maybe woken us up _in time_ for breakfast, instead of in time to let us know we'd missed it?

"What? Really?" Percy sounded as disappointed as I felt until Annabeth grinned and held up one finger, stooping to pick up something just behind her. I realized as she held it in front of her that it was a tray, piled high with enough breakfast food to feed the both of us. I had no clue how she'd gotten it out of the dining pavilion (usually they didn't let you leave with stuff, complaining about ants – or worse – in the cabins), but there it was. As the smell wafted into the cabin, my mouth started watering almost immediately.

"So I thought you might appreciate it if I brought you some," she said smugly, handing the tray to a somewhat shocked-looking Percy. "I've already thanked the gods for it on your behalf. Chiron's called the meeting for ten o'clock – that's half an hour from now, got it?"

"... Got it," Percy said, and Annabeth gave him a mock-salute and disappeared back out the door, shutting it before either of us could get a word in. "Hey, thanks!" Percy yelled through the door, because he couldn't very well open it with his hands full of food.

"Don't be late!" came the muffled reply.

Percy glanced over at me and cocked a grin. "Guess you're up now too, huh? You want some of this?" He came over and set the tray at the foot of my bed, inspecting its contents. Annabeth really had piled on _everything_ – there was enough bacon, sausage, and pancakes for both of us, two apples, two glasses of orange juice, and a plate piled high with scrambled eggs.

"Gods, _yes_," I said, struggling into a sitting position as Percy fished two forks out from beneath one of the plates and handed one to me. I still felt about as dizzy as I had last night, but I was hoping that if I actually ate something it would subside.

Together we demolished everything on the plate in record time. It felt like I hadn't eaten in ages, which was just about right, and as I finished the last bite of my apple I sighed contentedly, glad to have a full stomach for the first time in days. Percy looked just about as sated as I felt, and I was indeed feeling a lot better after having eaten.

Of course, by then it was time to get ready for this big meeting Chiron wanted to have. I was a little nervous – after all, the prophecy had just been turned completely on its head. I mean, I hadn't fit in at Camp Half-Blood before – what were things going to be like _now_? I honestly wanted to stay here in Percy's cabin with him for at least another couple of days before I even thought about facing the world outside, but like so many other aspects of life for a half-blood, I just didn't have the luxury. There was no use in whining about it. At least not out loud.

Getting dressed was an interesting affair – the only clothes of mine in Percy's cabin were either sized for a twelve year-old or the one set of clothes Medea had given me that were grimy and gritty. I really didn't want to go to a meeting in the Big House wearing those. Silena Beauregard would probably have told me I stunk. And she'd probably have been right.

"You're just gonna have to wear something of mine," Percy said, and came up with a standard orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirt and a pair of his jeans with holes in the knees. "Sorry, this is the best I can do. I think we're pretty much the same size, at least."

Wearing Percy's clothes was weird. I mean, on the one hand they smelled like him, which was nice, but on the other hand I really didn't feel all that comfortable wearing bright orange – I mean, I'd been wearing nothing but black or gray for years now, and suddenly I felt like I might as well be wearing a big sign that said HEY EVERYBODY, LOOK AT ME! But as it turned out, the orange shirt probably wasn't what did it. It was the fact that Percy came out of his cabin that morning with a boy in tow who wasn't obviously Nico di Angelo at first glance; a boy who was clearly wearing Percy's clothes and who looked a lot older than twelve.

Despite the fact that they'd all been through a battle the day before, there were plenty of campers up and around when Percy and I left his cabin, and all of them were staring at us. I tried to ignore them as we made our way from Percy's cabin up the hill to the Big House, but it was hard. Really hard. I finally just tried to concentrate on the sound of Percy breathing beside me, and the way he felt warm against my side as I leaned on him to keep my balance as we walked.

Annabeth was standing out on the porch of the Big House, obviously waiting for us. She waved her hand as we approached and called, "Come on! Everyone's already waiting in the rec room." Then she turned and disappeared into the Big House ahead of us. I glanced at Percy, feeling more than a little uncomfortable, but there was no getting out of this and we both knew it. He only shrugged and offered me a grin before helping me up the porch steps and into the rec room.

The head counselors from all the cabins (well, all the occupied cabins at least) were already there, standing around the ping-pong table. Pollux from the Dionysus cabin stood next to Katie Gardner from Demeter. Standing next to each other at the far end of the table were Charlie Beckendorf and Silena Beauregard, who I still thought made an odd couple even if I really didn't have any right to think that about anyone, I realized wryly. Beside them was Clarisse, who was looking bored right up to the moment Percy and I walked in the door, when she started looking disgusted. Connor and Travis Stoll, who had been trying to drop something I couldn't see down the back of Clarisse's shirt, immediately hopped backwards and tried to look innocent.

Annabeth was standing next to Chiron, talking about something with Michael Yew. He watched me closely as we walked into the room, probably trying to assess my medical condition by sight alone. I gave him a weak smile and a thumbs-up, letting him know that I was doing a lot better, thanks to him. I might not be back at a hundred percent yet, but I could imagine just how out of commission I'd be if he hadn't done his nifty son-of-Apollo healing trick. He looked a bit relieved and nodded slightly.

The room fell completely silent as we entered. "Ah, here they are." Chiron pulled up a folding card chair and even though I really didn't want to sit because no one else was, Percy all but shoved me down into it and kept me there with one hand on my shoulder – though I had to admit, that hand was as much for my comfort as to keep me seated, and I glanced up at him to let him know I appreciated it.

"Now that everyone is here, you can see why I've called this meeting." Chiron put one hand on the back of my chair. I could feel the eyes of everyone in the room on me except for Percy, who was staring them down right alongside me and I really, really appreciated that.

"What, Nancy Jackson's got a new boyfriend and you gotta call a meeting of the head counselors?" Clarisse asked, sneering at us. "Boy, you sure like to love 'em and leave 'em, don't you?" Her eyes flicked to Annabeth for a brief second.

I could feel Percy bristle beside me, and he was probably about to say something back when Katie Gardner said, "No, there's something familiar about him..." She frowned at me, then looked up at Chiron, as though waiting for him to elaborate.

"Indeed there is," he said calmly, shifting on his hooves beside me. "As some of you already know, this is Nico di Angelo."

There was a split second of silence before Clarisse started snorting with laughter. "What? You want me to believe that _he's_," she pointed at me, "that little runt di Angelo? What'd you do, give him a major dose of human growth hormone?"

"No, Chiron's right," Silena said, looking at me more closely now. "He really does look remarkably like Nico." She glanced to Chiron, asking, "What happened?"

"Kronos thought it'd be a great idea to make me sixteen so he could get the whole prophecy thing overwith," I said, beating Chiron to the punch because I was sick of everyone talking about me like I wasn't there. I felt Percy squeeze my shoulder before I went on. "He's got Medea working for him, and she did this to me. I don't think it's exactly reversible."

"You didn't think it'd be a good idea to tell us about this last night?" Clarisse shot at Annabeth, who simply shrugged nonchalantly and stared her right back down.

"It wasn't important," she said coolly. "What mattered was that there was a battle and they needed reinforcements. The details could wait until later."

"Wait – so he's _sixteen_?" Connor suddenly asked, pointing at me with wide eyes. "You mean we've got a sixteen year-old kid of the Big Three sitting _right here_?"

"Yes," Chiron said, letting the gravity of that statement sink into every person in the room.

"So... this means we've got to step things up," Beckendorf said calmly, finally breaking the silence. I actually liked him okay – he'd always been pretty cool to me, and he wasn't the kind of person who got all crazy when things took a sudden turn for the unexpected. Beckendorf was the kind of person who looked at a situation, figured out what had to be done, and did it – no complaints, no questions asked. That was exactly the sort of person we needed on our side, I thought. Especially when we had someone like Clarisse; who, on the other hand, looked like she was going to explode.

"I'm not going to let that little runt run things!" she said, glaring at me. "He's just a brat no matter what he looks like! You can't honestly be planning on letting _him_ fulfill the prophecy! I don't even like the idea of _Jackson_ over there doing it, let alone a double-crossing, selfish little son of _Hades_ – "

"Shut up," Percy said quietly, speaking for the first time since this had started, and there was something so cold in his voice that it actually _did_ shut Clarisse up, though she kept right on glaring, her mouth open like she almost didn't believe he'd spoken to her that way. "Listen," Percy went on, his voice still quiet and calm. "Nico didn't ask for this. But it's the way things are now. He's on our side and he nearly took out Kronos single-handedly yesterday morning. I trust him with my life."

"I do, too," Annabeth put in.

"We may all one day have to do just that," Chiron said gravely, which honestly wasn't helping my confidence any but at least it kept everybody quiet. "We don't know what will happen now, but we can certainly imagine the likely outcome. Percy is correct – Nico injured Kronos very seriously yesterday morning, and as a result I feel he will advance his plans to overthrow Olympus." He shuffled his hooves again, making sure he had the attention of everyone in the room before he went on.

"So these are the facts, campers: Kronos doesn't have much time left to accomplish his goal, and there is now a child of Hades who has reached the age of sixteen. I think we can be sure that this means war is upon us, whether we are ready for it or not. As the heads of your respective cabins, I am trusting you to pass this information along and ensure that your brothers and sisters remain calm and level-headed. We will be holding twice-daily combat drills and I have already sent out the satyrs to call back every half-blood who has left for the school year."

"So it's really going to happen," I heard Michael Yew say quietly. "We're really going to fight a war."

I could understand where he was coming from. I mean, just a couple of days ago, the prospect of war was at least a year away. We'd had until Percy turned sixteen to figure out how to keep Kronos from rising to power. A year had seemed like such a long time; and now we had almost no time at all, and it was all my fault. Not only was I old enough to fulfill the prophecy in Percy's stead, but I myself had ensured that Kronos needed to strike _soon_.

"Yeah," Percy said from beside me, "we are. And I, for one, am going to be ready."

Around the table, heads were nodding. Not all of them – Clarisse still looked royally pissed and Michael Yew looked more than a little nervous. So did Katie Gardner. But Chiron stamped one hoof and said, "Good. Then this meeting is adjourned. We will meet again tomorrow at the same time to discuss our new schedule. All I ask today is that you inform your cabinmates and get the rest I know you all need."

At that, people began shuffling out of the rec room. Annabeth glanced at us with a worried sort of expression, but she left with the rest of them, obviously intent on giving her cabin the news. I stayed seated, not really excited about being the first out the door – after all, it wasn't like Percy _or_ I had a cabin full of half-bloods to explain anything to. It was just us.

All the same, I could still feel everyone staring at me as they passed – seriously, hadn't they stared enough? At least most of them seemed uncomfortable enough with either my situation or the one that had just been thrust upon them that none of them tried to talk to me or Percy as they shuffled out.

Well – none of them except Clarisse. She, of course, stopped right in front of us and stared down her nose at Percy. "I don't know what you think you're doing," she sneered, "but if you or your little _boyfriend_ think I'm going to follow _him_ into battle, you have _got_ to be insane."

Despite Percy's hand on my shoulder I stood, the chair scraping against the floor behind me. Clarisse didn't look quite so huge anymore – sure, she was still big. But now I was, too – as big as a sixteen year-old boy, and she hadn't scared me when I was the size of a twelve year-old one. She certainly didn't scare me now.

"I don't care what you think, Clarisse – and I don't care what you do," I said, not letting a single ounce of the worry or fear I felt creep into my face or voice. "You go do whatever the hell it is you think you have to, but if whatever that is doesn't include helping us win this war then you had better be watching your back."

Clarisse opened her mouth, but nothing came out. She just stared at me for a minute, her eyes wild. Then she snorted – I think maybe she was supposed to be laughing – and she smacked me on the shoulder. I couldn't tell if it was meant to be a friendly gesture or not. "Well, it's nice to know you've grown a pair along with those couple of inches, di Angelo. But I don't trust you. If I'm watching my back, you better be doubly sure you're watching yours." And she turned and walked out the door, leaving me blinking and, a second later, staggering into Percy.

"Well, that went well," I muttered, and he only chuckled softly and steered me out the door. We stopped on the porch, leaning our elbows on the railing as we watched the counselors make their way down the hill toward their respective cabins. I imagined all the meetings that were going to take place over the course of today and the rest of this week. I imagined the training sessions there were going to be: the swordfighting and archery and even field medic drills. I imagined all of the satyrs out there now, dragging half-bloods out of classrooms across the country to bring them back here to prepare for a war.

"Everything's going to change," I said quietly, staring at the hills and beyond them, Long Island Sound.

"It already has," Percy replied, leaning shoulder-to-shoulder with me. "But the important things haven't."

I glanced at him to see that he was watching me, his sea-green eyes solemn and calm. "... No," I said, smiling at him and thinking there was no one – demigod, _god_, or otherwise – that I'd rather have by my side. "I guess they haven't."

_The End_

[ **A/N: **Thanks for sticking with me, and thank you to everyone who left amazing reviews! Please keep an eye out for story #3, appearing hopefully in the near future! ]


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